November 17th, 2014 · Leave a Comment
Written by: Rita Jury, Nurse Administrator
Jim Hubert, a registered nurse educator and wound care specialist at Mayo Clinic Health System Oakridge in Osseo, Wisconsin, celebrates life by giving. Even before he became a nurse (his second career), Jim was generous with his time and talent by serving those in the community, and he and his wife raised their family to do the same. He feels blessed and chooses to bless others!
Jim has been at Oakridge for 12 years and has engaged fellow employees in feeding the homeless through The Community Tabl
e in Eau Claire. Two or three times a year, the signs go up announcing the next Oakridge-hosted event. Jim gathers employee volunteers who prepare, cook, serve and clean up after the meal that typically serves between 150 and 200 homeless people. He also has a theme and gathers items that are necessary for that population – personal hygiene needs, like soap, washcloths, and deodorant; dental care needs like toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, and denture cleaner, and; winter needs like long underwear (a huge favorite!), and new or gently used sweaters, fleece, coats, hats and mittens for people of all sizes and ages (we sometimes forget that children are homeless too).
Jim organizes one person to check blood pressures for any person who stops by. Community Table charges the sponsoring site $100 to help defray the cost of food. Jim gathers donations or pays this fee himself.
Those of us who have participated with Jim are humbled by the benefits we receive – we see grateful people get food, warm clothing, a blood pressure screening, a smile, a warm hello. We see a team of employees pulling together for a great cause and having a wonderful time getting to know one another better. We leave feeling we received so much more than we gave. An additional benefit: We care for each other differently after we serve together!
Jim’s volunteerism didn’t start or stop with the Community Table – he’s been involved in projects with his church, with Hope Gospel Mission, Feed My People, and the Eau Claire Free Clinic, and he has a passion for finding and recycling medical equipment for people with a need. Jim’s house has stored hospital beds, wheelchairs, commodes, walkers, lift chairs, shower chairs, canes and more over the years. Nothing makes Jim happier than to place equipment in the homes of people who cannot afford what they need to recover fully.
Thanksgiving is a wonderful season of giving thanks and of giv
ing back. Jim’s tireless energy around giving reminds those of us who work with him that poverty and homelessness and need are not seasonal. Jim reminds us that giving is a way of life.
Tags: A Life-Changing Career, Life-Changing, Nurse, nurse recruitment, Nursing Recrui, Registered Nurse, RN, RN careers, Summer III
September 18th, 2014 · Leave a Comment
My Journey at Mayo Clinic: From Staff RN to Nurse Researcher
By Dana Smith
Written by: Ilana Logvinov, RN, MSN, CCRP
RN Advanced Clinical Research Coordinator
May 2003 was the date my journey began at Mayo Clinic in Florida. I began working as a staff nurse in the Medical ICU. Prior to joining Mayo Clinic, I completed my initial nursing education in Odessa, Ukraine. I moved to the U.S. in 1997, and in 2001 I graduated with my associate’s degree in nursing science. As I worked at Mayo Clinic, I continued my education and eventually obtained my BSN and MSN degrees in clinical trials research. I have always been self-motivated, and my colleagues provided tremendous emotional support for my nursing endeavors. I have always wanted to work in research, and I began working as a clinical research coordinator for the Department of Anesthesiology in 2007. This was a life-changing career move for me.
Clinical research opened so many opportunities and allowed me to excel academically. After completing my MSN in 2010, I began working closely with my investigators and participating in writing research proposals, completing the studies, and writing manuscripts for publication. I shared my passion for research with many nurses I mentored along the way as well as clinical research interns. I am currently working on my doctorate of nursing practice degree. My successful career would not have been possible if it was not for Mayo Clinic and wonderful staff that work here. My favorite quote is by Walt Disney: “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
Tags: A Life-Changing Career, Life-Changing, Nurse, nurse recruitment, Nursing Recruitment, Registered Nurse, RN, RN careers, RN jobs
August 26th, 2014 · Leave a Comment
The sky literally seems to be the limit within Mayo Clinic,” your career is unlimited...
Written by Nichole Herr, RN
Nichole Herr, RN
ICU , Mayo Clinic Arizona
In August of 2006 I started with Mayo Clinic in Rochester as a Vascular Access Technician in the Thoracic/Vascular ICU. Growing up all I wanted to be was a Veterinarian, so this was an interesting change of pace.
A year into that position, which I held for 6 years, I decided I really liked working in the hospital and specifically for Mayo Clinic. With the help of Mayo’s great tuition reimbursement program, I completed nursing school and graduated in 2011. From then on, the doors seemed to continually be opening for me within Mayo. I had amazing support working for the float pool in Rochester. After a year of general care I was hired to their ICU float pool and continued to thrive as a new nurse. The sky literally seems to be the limit within Mayo. Peers are always pushing you forward and are there to help along the way.
In the winter of 2013, after spending my whole life in small town Minnesota I was thinking I needed a change of scenery. Knowing I never wanted to leave “Mother Mayo” I started looking at positions in AZ. A patient had told me the previous fall that I needed to stop trying to control my destiny and just go through the doors as they open. This hit me really hard…so I applied for a position within the ICU at the Phoenix Campus and decided to see what happened. After that the flood gates literally opened. On a flight down to AZ to run a race, I scheduled 3 interviews for positions and when I landed was given the opportunity to do an exchange with the AZ Campus. Mayo took amazing care of me, as well as my co-workers. We were treated great while helping the ICU in AZ temporarily and I would strongly recommend this experience to anyone.
After the exchange ended, I made my permanent transition to Mayo Clinic AZ. I feel so lucky to work for such a great institution and will forever be thankful for the opportunities I have been given as a result.
Tags: Critical Care Nurse, Nurse, Nursing Recruitment, Registered Nurse, RN, RN careers, RN jobs
August 6th, 2014 · Leave a Comment
My name is Angie Deml and I've been a registered nurse in the Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea for over 20 years. This was my third medical mission trip to Colombia with Children's Vision International. Each year we offer medical/surgical care, dental care, respiratory care, wound care, haircuts, and evangelism. This was our first year offering an eye clinic as well. We brought over 1600 pairs of eyeglasses from the Lion's recycling center in Wisconsin. These are eyeglasses that have been donated from all over the Midwest and labeled with the prescription on each pair of glasses. Our team consisted of doctors, nurses, dentists, optometrists, medics, barbers, and respiratory therapists. The team comes from all parts of the USA as well as the UK with numbers adding up to around 70 when you add in the interpreters and helpers from Colombia. We travel to remote locations in Colombia where the need is recognized by the government and overseen by the local pastor and mayor. This year we traveled to Bolivar, Puente Nacional, and Patio Bonito. There we seen 4650 patients with over 1000 people seen the first day.
A typical day consisted of being greeted by hundreds of people already standing in line that went on for blocks. Many had walked over four hours from their homes in the mountains to get to our clinic. Some had started walking at 1:00 am to assure they would be seen that day. Once registered, they would proceed to triage where they would get their height, weight, first set of vital signs, and chief complaint. While waiting, an evangelism team would perform a drama. From triage they would decide if they wanted medical, dental, or optical attention.
The days would last till dark which would be around 5:30pm. Knowing many had walked hours and waited hours, it was difficult to turn anyone away at the end of the day. On the first day, after attending such a high volume of people, there was that famous phrase "can you just see one more"? An 8 year old girl came to us with her mother who proceeded to tell us her concerns regarding her lazy eye. Our optometrist determined she needed a +7 lens to correct her vision. We knew the inventory of glasses we had brought down and knew there was nothing that strong. However, there was a pink pair, with no prescription known, just thrown in the tote with the other glasses. We had the doctor check the prescription and sure enough they were perfect. The little girl couldn't thank us enough. Her mother had tears of joy, along with everyone else in the room. Seeing the faces of everyone getting their glasses and seeing the visual acuity charts or being able to read the letters right in front of them was so gratifying. Their smiles got larger as their vision got clearer. Many tears of gratitude and pure joy of seeing were shed by many. They continued to thank us for coming and we received many kisses and blessings in return.
The days were long and hard, but every day was so rewarding knowing you made a difference in so many lives. Over 600 people received glasses while we were there. That's 600 more people seeing the world in a whole new way that we can so easily take for granted. I appreciate the resources that we have so readily available and don't take for granted the healthcare we have. These trips help remind me of this and to appreciate all that we have.
August 6th, 2014 · Leave a Comment
The Florence Nightingale Pledge
Many Nurses can recall the Florence Nightingale pledge which was written in 1893:
Most Nurses were required to memorize this pledge for their pinning or capping ceremony. I don’t know about you but I can’t remember cell phone numbers without looking it up on my contacts let alone this very important pledge!
Times have changed…Or have they really? To my knowledge and observation of our extraordinary Nursing staff, they all still practice this pledge today. They give passionate care to the sick and needy, they place their skilled hand on the patients shoulder giving comfort and hope when hope is lost. We don’t need to memorize the pledge to know how to practice nursing. Nursing is a team sport and together we help each other achieve the highest level of care for our patients practicing…Do no harm. Each of us as nurses have also been instilled with the expectation to hold in confidence all personal matter committed to our keeping-now known as HIPPA.You see, times are not so very different when you speak of Nursing care. Today we just practice nursing with a few extra tools such as computers and care mobiles. Our care and compassion as nurses hasn’t changed.
Florence Nightingale would be proud of how far nursing has come and the distance yet to be traveled as a profession.
I thankful I am a Nurse and can have the opportunity to work with an extraordinary team of staff.
August 5th, 2014 · Leave a Comment
Mayo Clinic: Life-changing career, life-changing experience
Brandon Mauck with his family
Brandon Mauck, RN Nursing Informatics
Growing up as a South Dakota native, I was naturally very familiar with Mayo Clinic and its great reputation. As an adult I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of this unique and historic health system over the last four years. I’m always very proud of Mayo Clinic…proud of the enterprise as a whole, down to the department I work in. Though, I must say that I never imagined that I would be so well cared for by my employer.
Just after Thanksgiving (2013) my immediate family and I made a trip back to the Midwest to visit family and friends for the holidays. A few hours after arrival in North Dakota, my wife, who was 29 weeks pregnant, went into pre-term labor. As you can imagine, being in rural North Dakota and three hours away from trusted medical care was quite distressing. Once my wife and unborn baby were stabilized and care-flighted to Bismarck (ND), we found ourselves fearful of the medical unknowns that lay ahead of us. On top of this, we were terrified to know that we were now “stuck” 1,500 miles away from preferred medicine and from home with a 3.5-year-old, 2-year-old, and soon to be NICU baby. As I tried to brainstorm on how I could make this situation better or easier for my family, a light bulb went on in my head…“Mayo!” I recalled reading an article on the Mayo intranet about the Mayo air ambulance only a couple weeks prior to our trip and I had put the 1-800 number in my cell phone. I literally called the Mayo 1-800 helpline at 11am on a Sunday morning and my wife was picked up at 6pm that night for an air ambulance flight back home to Phoenix. With the help of all, my wife was able to make it to 31 weeks before our baby boy was born, a handsome preemie NICU baby who was healthy and only needed to grow and learn how to drink out of a bottle.
I write this in extreme gratitude to Mayo Clinic for providing me with a positive life-changing experience. Thank you Mayo Clinic, I will be forever grateful that you helped my family move from a situation of distress and fear to a place of improved safety, convenience, and comfort.
Tags: A Life-Changing Career, Critical Care Nurse, Life-Changing, Nurse, nurse recruitment, Nursing Recrui, Registered Nurse, RN
July 28th, 2014 · Leave a Comment
Written by Kathleen McMillin, Cath Lab, AZ
Hello, I’m Kathy and have been a nurse for 12 years. My career has consisted of travel nursing with a couple of detours with temporary staffing. The longest I have stayed at a hospital has been 2 years, until I came to Mayo Clinic Hospital in Arizona. I've been here for 3 years, and half of it as a travel nurse working various units. One of my favorite stories from my Mayo experience was from my first day on orientation of 4W; the RN and I walked into a patient room and found a doctor, but no patient. When we inquired about the patient location he said, “Oh, I helped her into the bathroom and I’m waiting to see if she needed help back to bed.” My response was utter shock that a doctor would put the patient’s needs ahead of his own schedule since this is what I've seen at other facilities. One of my deciding factors of staying was the support of the staff and interdisciplinary team work of Mayo staff. This is the first time in my career that I feel like I have a voice in the patients plan of care.
The greatest difference Mayo has afforded my life is stability with a strong work family as my Phoenix support system. I’m very happy with my work here and feel like I make a difference in my patient’s lives and hopefully strengthen my work team. Another benefit of being a core staff RN is the opportunity to further my education. I’m looking into starting a MSN program in the spring and the amount of financial support from Mayo is substantial. When I mentioned this goal to my supervisor she offered words of encouragement and reassurance of flexibility in my work schedule for school.
I have worked for many hospitals across the country and never felt a part of an amazing team that supports one another day in and day out. I’m honored to be here and only hope that my experiences shared above encourage another generations of nursing to join us to carry on this great tradition.
Tags: Nursing Recruitment, Registered Nurse, RN, RN jobs, Travel Nursing
July 24th, 2014 · 1 Comment
In addition to working as a staff RN on an Internal Medicine floor, one of my roles is working as an admission nurse covering four of our busy medical units. I admit patients from all over the world, with various ailments. A lot of our patients have traveled here because they have been told elsewhere there is nothing else that can be done for them, or because they believe there is something more that can be done. We see patients with rare conditions, patients who have stopped walking, stopped eating, and some who are on the verge of giving up.
Sometimes I am the first personal contact they have as they are getting settled in to their blue patient gowns, family members on cell phones letting loved ones know they have finally made it. They are exhausted, but they are happy to be in our presence. They go in to detail about their journey, how long they had to drive, how many layovers they had, how many MRIs, blood tests, and CT scans they have endured until this point. As they share many details their eyes begin to fill with tears. I try to imagine what they have been through, but am sure I fall short of complete comprehension. I go about helping them remove their compression socks; I inspect their feet, and settle them into bed. They continue to tell me their story and plead with me to assure them they are in the right place to find answers.
I find myself sympathizing deeply and I want to tell them to worry no more, but I can’t do that. You see we learn in nursing school that we aren’t supposed to instill false hope, and I tell them exactly that. I attempt to explain that we aren’t supposed to say “everything will turn out fine” or “we will find you an answer” and that I wish that I could, I wish I had the magical wand. I continue with my thorough head to toe assessment and ask pertinent baseline questions. I look over hand written medication lists and verify the dosages. My assessment is done and finally, knowing I will probably never see these people again, I attempt to offer them a glimmer of hope.
I take this opportunity to share how I’ve taken care of patients who were unable to walk when they arrived but left here walking--patients that thought they were going to be on tube feedings for the rest of their lives that left here eating. I tell them I can’t promise what their future will bring but that I do believe they are in the right place, a truly magical place.
Tags: Nurse, nurse recruitment, Registered Nurse, RN, RN careers, RN jobs