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Nurse jobs

Bruce Matthews lifted and fed patients as andropped, Matthews had to decide which of
orderly, and completed stints on as manythree  methods  to  use  to  increase  it.
specialty floors as he could as a beginning
nurse. He made life-or-death decisions"If you make a wrong judgment, it could be
monitoring surgery patients during gruelingdeadly, " Matthews said. But he thrived
12-hour shifts as an open-heart recoverybecause he liked thinking through a process
nurse.on  his  feet.
Now, as director in charge of nursingMatthews then completed a stint in the
administrative support at a hospital incardiac catheter lab, a decidedly less
Winter Haven, Florida, Matthews benefits fromthrilling job. On a lark, he applied for a
the rare privilege of having an insider'scritical care supervisor's job at the same
edge  on  the  job.hospital  where  he  got  his  start.
Main  CourseHe got the job, moving from patient care to
management, overseeing nearly 80 beds and
In a way, Matthews' job represents the flipsubbing during the 3-11 p.m. shift when the
side of his previous nursing positions.nursing staff ran thin. He learned the
Instead of seeing patients, he assesses howfinancial ropes by tapping good mentors and
many nurses are needed on a particular floor.reading on his own. His pride shines even now
He converts staffing provided by registeredas he describes how he persuaded higher-ups
nurses (RNs), licensed practical nursesto include "flex pay'' in the budget, which
(LPNs) and certified nursing assistantscovered recruiting incentives for nurses
(CNAs) into numbers or full-time equivalentsduring  a  shortage.
(FTEs).
Bigger,  Better  Rewards
"I'm kind of like a budget analyst, " said
Matthews,  43.After completing Army reserve duty during
Operation Desert Shield in the early 1990s,
Not  Just  the  Job  DescriptionMatthews took on a bigger assignment:
managing nursing support services for the
But his job is more than a numbers game,entire  hospital  and  affiliated facilities.
since nurses have different competencies, and
needs vary from floor to floor. Matthews, whoThe duties were similar to his previous job.
reports to the vice president of nursing andThere was just more of everything -- more
the hospital's CEO, accounts for that when henurses, more beds (in excess of 500), more
assigns staff. He must defend those decisionsmoney to account for. He still works long
to higher-ups who've never walked in ahours, and when the Joint Commission on
nurse's shoes. It gets more complicated,Accreditation of Healthcare Organization
since Matthews continually evaluates howmakes its rounds, perhaps he feels a tad more
effectively nurses perform against his ownpressure  than  usual.
and  conventionally  accepted  standards.
Matthews considers himself a staff nurse "
Besides assigned duties, Matthews pitches inadvocate " but acknowledges that he walks a
on other projects. For instance, he helpedtightrope sometimes to keep the clinical and
the hospital convert to a new computer systemadministrative sides of the business happy.
that made it easier for nurses to order testsHe  doesn't  always  succeed.
and  supplies.
"I like to be able to say, 'Yes, I can,' "
Getting  ThereMatthews said. He hit it off in health care
because he enjoyed helping people. That
This orderly-turned-administrator advancedremains  the  core  of  what  he  does today.
his career by knowing what makes himself
tick, excelling on the job and seizingAdvice  for  Aspiring  Health  Care  Workers
opportunities that taught him something new.
By the time Matthews finished militaryFor nurses interested in moving into
service, working as an Air Force medic withmanagement,  Matthews  offers  his  advice:
an open-heart specialist, he knew enough to
breeze through an associate's level nursingDon't pigeonhole yourself: Get as much
program. He earned his license and startedexperience as you can in every part of
working as a nurse in a Winter Haven,healthcare; that will make you more
Florida, hospital, rotating through differentmarketable.
floors  voluntarily.
Become familiar with tools of the trade: Even
Life  or  Deathbefore he completed a bachelor's degree,
Matthews oiled his skills in math, including
Later at Lakeland Regional, Matthews achievedbasic algebra. Read journals that cover the
the best of both worlds as an open-heartjob  you  want.
recovery nurse. Following a surgeon's
protocols, Matthews spent 12 hours monitoringKnow what you know well: Matthews said his
patients hooked up to complex machines. As heinsider's edge in nursing helped him to
describes it, the job was about as intense asarticulate needs to higher-ups.
Russian roulette. If a patient's blood volume



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