June’s Thoughts: Nurses

By Jesse Moss Jr., MD

The month of June has been set aside to honor nurses. This is similar to Doctor’s Day when the hospitals have wonderful breakfasts, lunches and hold special ceremonies for medical professionals on March 30th each year. Nurses have all month.

Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to express some personal opinions about nurses. As a physician and surgeon, I am exquisitely dependent upon nurses and their ability to provide care to my patients. Medicine is very complicated and the nurse’s workforce within medicine is complicated.

Nurses seemed to migrate into certain areas that fit their personalities. When job skills and personalities match, there is excellent concordance with nurses. At Northeast Methodist Hospital, I have a designated nurse named Carla Strom and a designated operating room technician named Tonya who makes my surgical procedures go very smoothly. I didn't always have a surgical team and many times I was frustrated because of happenstances, such as the appropriate equipment was not in a room or had not been properly checked, or personnel did not know how to operate the equipment.

However, Carla and Tonya make my surgical life wonderful.

Publicly, I want to say to both of you—“Thank you very much!”

I do have the occasion to go to the emergency room wherever the marriage issue or nurses who have two triage patients that provide timely information arise. Secure studies make sure that the sickest are treated first and that everyone gets treated well. This requires a personality and professional skills that are unique. We know that nurses throughout the city and all of the emergency room personnel diligently do this job well.

I also have the opportunity to visit the intensive care wards where the nurses have to be acutely aware of the status of the patient and often work either one-on-one or on nourishment to patients to ensure the well-being of that patient. These can be very nerve-racking, ulcer- and headache-producing activities. Yet, we know that there are nurses in the ICUs throughout the city doing exactly that.

I recall a conversation with an ICU nurse who is a little distraught because the very sick patient that I presented to her bore a remarkable resemblance to her father. I made the suggestion that she ask to be transferred and assigned to take care of another patient. Her reply was, “No. I know that I can give him the very best of care and I'm looking forward to doing that.” This type of attitude best explains the nurses in the ICU.

There are nurses who work on the oncology ward. Without a doubt, these are the most caring and loving nurses you will ever meet. They work with very sick patients and too often, the outcome isn’t what we would like. Yet, they continue to get attached to the patients and they know each individual well. I also have patients on the surgical wards and medical wards. This job requires a whole new set of personalities and professional skills. They have a wide variety of patients with multiple medical and surgical problems. The wards usually have nurse’s assistants to help care for the patients; and, they are the ones who provide the lion’s share of individualized care to the patient. The ward clerks, known as the dealmakers, are the glue that keeps everything intact. Stephanie Cortez, on the third floor at Northeast Methodist, is one of those key personnel that make things happen. As one nurse described to me: “God Surgeon #1 wants this for his patients; God Surgeon #2 wants another set of parameters for his patients; and, God Surgeon #3 demands the very best for his patients. The problem is that all of these demands are different and the poor nurse is taking care of patients for all three surgeons. I know I am one of their favorites because they smile at me and say, “Yes, doctor.” And when I get a little out of character, they usually give me the benefit of the doubt and simply say, “Please, he’s having a Colonel’s moment”.

I just wanted to pay homage to a great group of professionals who help all of us care for our patients. Often times, we get all of the credit and they get all of the gripes. Therefore I would like to remind all of you physicians to be nice to at least two of your nurses during Nurses’ Month!

Sincerely,

Jesse Moss Jr., MD

2011 BCMS President