Stories of Florence Nightingale’s compassion, bravery, and leadership have shaped modern nursing and influenced and inspired millions. As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of her birth, we are honored to shine a light on today’s #NurseHeroes on the front lines by sharing some of their stories.
This is Chelsea’s story.
Describe why you chose to become a nurse
I originally couldn’t decide between teaching and nursing; I knew I wanted to do something that would allow me to care for others. Ultimately, I couldn’t find a topic I was passionate enough about to teach, but I have always loved science and anatomy so opted to go the nursing route. It worked out because I am so passionate about nursing that I am now only 2 courses away from my Masters in Nursing Education, so I will be able to be both a teacher AND a nurse!
Describe your most rewarding day on the job
We had a young child come in with a laceration which needed repair. They were extremely sensitive, and had barricaded themselves in the corner of our waiting room behind some children’s activity tables. Any time anyone, including their parent, would try to go near them to bring them into a patient room they became emotional, screaming and crying. I was made aware of the situation, so I came out into the waiting room and sat far enough away that they could see me but not close enough to make them uneasy. I told them I was just going to sit and wait for them to be ready to talk to me, and ultimately was able to gain their trust enough to get them to come over and let me check the laceration. I worked with our attending physician that day and they were wonderful treating the patient. Before the patient left, they gave me a hug! It was the absolute best feeling to see this kid go from completely withdrawn and labile to a kid who was ok with a hug goodbye!
Describe your most challenging day on job
Prior to my current job at Urgent Care, I worked inpatient Medical-Oncology and Palliative Care. While providing Comfort Measures towards end-of-life patients is ultimately rewarding, it is also emotionally exhausting and makes for some pretty sad and challenging shifts.
Do you have any nurse hacks or lessons learned in the field you would like to share with others?
Ultimately, the more flexible you are with your schedule/shifts, the more flexible your peers will be when you need help. 🙂 Other than that, during busy shifts or times when I am feeling overwhelmed, I make sure to find a quiet spot and do some deep breathing exercises to reset.
What’s a favorite quote of yours?
“Your profession is not what brings home your weekly paycheck, your profession is what you’re put here on earth to do, with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling” – Vincent Van Gogh
For those looking for a way to help others, is there a charity you suggest?
Camp Sunshine in Casco, ME; it’s a summer camp for children with life-threatening conditions and their families. I volunteered there as a 1:1 counselor for campers with special needs during summers when I was in nursing school.
Anything else you’d like to share?
Thank you for taking the time to celebrate our profession during this week!
Thank you for all you do, Chelsea!
Chelsea’s Nomination
Chelsea Mason is a resource nurse at the River’s Edge Urgent Care. She is our Shift Wizard!!! She stepped into the RRN role, around the time our unit was preparing for a transition from Paper to web based scheduling. Her attention to detail and ability to adapt quickly made the transition a seamless one for sure. It is what she has managed to do however, in recent weeks due to the Covid crisis that nothing short of miraculous. Nurses as a rule are not shy about making their desire to balance home life and work a priority. We are also very focused, at least here in Urgent Care, on the strong desire for predictability. We like to be able to make plans.
While the pandemic took much of that ability to plan away from us in so many other aspects of our daily practice, Chelsea has done an amazing job on our schedules. She has been able to piece together schedules with repeated adjustments and changes happening, sometimes two or three times a week, as volumes fluctuated, entire staff were cross train to the ED, and 2 of our 3 units temporarily suspended operations. In this flurry of uncertainty, I have been amazed at just how much these nurses have asked of Chelsea in the past and how that resulted in helping her make quick decisions and shift resources with little or no notice. By her being able to provide them with the things they need to help them cling to some normalcy, even if it meant reworking her own schedule she lightened the load and course corrected with mastery.
This understanding of who needs what and who can bend or flex is something that is rarely appreciated, and often taken for granted by some staff. Even with all the changes, she was always able to provide her peers with a glimmer of hope or resilience. Any self-sacrifice to get this done was worth it to her even as her own schedule was tossed about. The measure of Chelsea true grit, in my opinion, lies in her ability to remain steely focused on providing the unit with a mix of skills, and experience that are matched to the job at hand while still being able to face them daily knowing she had moved heaven and earth to make difficult circumstances less of a burden for them. I have done schedules for nearly 15 years and never have I seen someone so talented at what is often such a thankless job. She really is a wizard! No joke.
Lori Gallagher, RN, CEN
Elliot Health System
Thank you for helping us honor Chelsea and the profession of nursing, Lori. We salute you!
Do you have a story to share?
While our team at ShiftWizard believes all nurses are heroes, we’d like to hear who you feel has gone above and beyond. Help us honor a fellow nurse or nurse leader whose actions have inspired others in these unprecedented times, and let’s celebrate nursing together!
Did you know that ShiftWizard significantly lowers staffing costs for healthcare organizations?
These are incredibly challenging times for nurses as well as the organizations they serve, and there’s no better time to learn how ShiftWizard can deliver significant cost savings, best prepare your team for success, and be a dependable partner in times of adversity.
Our industry-leading workforce management solution is quick to implement and was developed by nurses— it is built specifically for healthcare and solves the complexities of scheduling staff for any department within a hospital. And, especially for times like these, our powerful communication center excels at getting messages (text, email, and automated calls) to staff securely and quickly, maximizing accountability and teamwork.
We are honored to support our frontline teams and we are here to help you meet your challenges head on.
Send your nurse story to us at info@shiftwizard.com or let us know how we can help you.
