Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1187856
18 Working Nurse l WorkingNurse.com November 18, 2019–January 13, 2020 "You have the power to take action, but you have to move quickly and think on your feet." Kyle Ackerson, RN Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) GOOD SAMARITAN HOSPITAL "Caring for people at their most vulnerable is such a privilege." Kenneth Alvarez, RN Cardiovascular Telemetry ADVENTIST HEALTH WHITE MEMORIAL What do you particularly love about your specialty? Being a CVICU nurse means having to quickly and effi- ciently learn everything there is to know about your patient, make a plan and then be ready for your plan to take a turn when a STEMI patient walks through the door. No two patients are ever the same. What I love most about my job is the autonomy. It is both challenging and rewarding to be trusted by doctors to help make decisions to stabilize a patient. You have the power to take action, but you have to move quickly and think on your feet. That's why I get excited to come to work every day. Please share the funniest or most moving thing that's happened to you as a nurse (bearing HIPAA in mind). What do you particularly love about your specialty? Most of the patients we get are dealing with severe heart problems. We deal with post- CABG [coronary artery bypass surgery] patients, people waiting for pacemakers or implanted defibrillators, heart failure, arrhyth- mia — the whole range of heart conditions. What I really enjoy is being able to teach my patients in plain language about their dis- ease and what to expect from treatments and procedures. Helping patients really understand what's happening is very rewarding. Getting to see them leave the hospital better off than when they came in is always amazing. Please share the funniest or most moving thing that's happened to you as a nurse (bearing HIPAA in mind). We have a particular patient who suffered a brain aneurysm at 15 years old and has been wheelchair-bound most of his life. He has a tracheotomy and a PEG [percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy] tube for feeding. Despite such severe challenges, he is one of the most positive, upbeat people I have ever met. His whole family is really awesome, amaz- ing, happy people. This patient has shown me that no matter how bad things may seem, we control our own attitude and can choose to remain positive. What has being a nurse taught you? I never thought I would have a job where people going to the bathroom could be exciting, or would have known how honoring it is to be allowed to do postmortem care. Being allowed to care for people at their most vulnerable is such a privi- lege. I love it when patients request me to be their nurse — that's such a great feeling. MEN IN NURSING 2019 We had a patient in our unit who was recover- ing from a routine elective procedure. The patient had a medical emergency requiring immediate intervention. The team and I did everything we could to stabilize the patient. Fortunately, we were successful. A few weeks later, the patient and their fam- ily members visited to thank us for our prompt action. This was an extremely emotional time, as we don't always get to see our patients' out- comes once they leave our unit. What has being a nurse taught you? That humor can be used to defuse the most tense situations! Nursing has also taught me to go with the flow, hustle when I need to hustle and set boundaries — leave work at work.