Noozhawk is proud to recognize National Nurses Month with our annual Salute to Nurses. May is a month dedicated to honoring the invaluable contributions of our local nurses in healthcare and our community.
It serves as a time to recognize and appreciate the tireless efforts, compassion, and dedication of nurses who play a crucial role in patient care, health promotion, and disease prevention.
From bedside caregivers to leaders in healthcare innovation, nurses embody resilience, empathy, and expertise, making National Nurses Month a time to express gratitude and admiration for their unwavering commitment to healing and comfort.
In this interview Noozhawk spoke with Patrick Reinhard, Dean of Nursing at San Joaquin Valley College (SJVC) to learn more about the profession and his personal journey.
Question: What types of qualities and interests do you feel inspire a person to pursue a healthcare profession?
Answer: There is not one type of person who is drawn to nursing. Most come to the profession because they have an interest in serving others. What keeps someone working in nursing is the certainty that they are making a difference for others. It helps that this is one of the few professions that allows someone to move from one type of patient care to another, but actually making themselves more marketable because they expand their base of knowledge each time, they learn how to care for a different patient type. Medical-Surgical, critical care, maternity, pediatrics, home health, hospice, clinical care, emergency department. There is a long list.
Q: How do you think the nursing profession has evolved over the years, especially in light of recent global health challenges?
A: At its core nursing has not changed for centuries. You can walk into any setting and provide basic care. However, technology has allowed us to provide more advanced care. We teach, “monitor the patient, not the equipment.” The reason, your eyes don’t lie. If the patient is getting better or worse and the technology does not reflect that then the problem is most likely the equipment. Having said that, we have things like the recent pandemic that remind us that mother nature will always be stronger than we are. Nature evolves and as a result new diseases are inevitable. Many outside of healthcare have focused on the loss of staff with this pandemic. However, we lost a similar number of caregivers moving from paper to computer charting. It just occurred more gradually.
Q: Can you highlight a particularly memorable or rewarding experience you’ve had as a healthcare provider?
A: As a Chief Nursing Officer at a 300+ bed hospital, I was tasked to move from an old facility into a state-of-the-art facility. However, the footprint of the new hospital meant that we had to completely rethink how we provided patient care. I worked with the managers and staff of each department and came up with a model that allowed us to move to one of the highest rated hospitals for patient satisfaction. That only came about because the staff took ownership of the process and actively worked with their colleagues to teach them about the changes. It was amazing to see the staff throw themselves into this work.
Q: In your opinion, what are some of the biggest challenges facing nurses today, and how do you think they can be addressed?
A: The ongoing challenge is to train enough nurses so that we do not burn out the current workforce. We need to do a better job with men and minorities to attract them to the profession. The second item that needs to be addressed is a knowledge campaign on vaccines and the importance for medical staff to participate in them. It will be an ongoing issue and we do not need the caregivers either infecting the patients they care for or going down because they have become infected from those patients.
The recent pandemic was educational to healthcare and the population in general and it was not good news in how we reacted. The current H5N1 issue that is impacting birds and other species worldwide should be a stark reminder that we are always going to have to deal with different viruses and subsequent mutations.
Q: How do you prioritize self-care and well-being while working in a demanding healthcare profession?
A: I think this is a very important topic. I go to a gym every day to make sure I am able to focus on my health. I learned, for me, the best time was before work because I frequently did not have time in the evening. Additionally, I think that we all need to make sure we get the sleep and rest we require.
Q: Can you discuss the importance of ongoing education and professional development for nurses?
A: I think that we all do well with on-the-job training. There are regular changes and updates in our jobs. However, I always discuss the importance of formal education. We would never read those text books, never have those conversations, never write or research those topics. It is only because we discipline ourselves to complete this educational process that we truly expand our knowledge base. It does not always need to be for a degree. Doing the work to obtain a certification is important as well.
Q: What advice would you give to someone considering a career in nursing?
A: Understand what nursing really consists of. I consider myself one of those people who has been fortunate to work for 40 years in a job I truly enjoy. It is hard work. It can be dirty, exhausting, emotionally taxing, but ultimately rewarding. Talk to a nurse, but find a nurse that still enjoys the work.
Q: How do you see technology impacting the nursing profession in the coming years?
A: I think AI will make some in-roads for charting, but that and ransomware will continue to cause major issues. Not only for healthcare facilities, but to those using them since their healthcare information might be shared publicly.
On the other hand, the use of virtual simulation for training will allow for a significant increase in training in parts of the world that cannot afford to purchase the physical tools to do complex training. That is important for nursing from a training perspective, but also for doctors that will be able to care for a portion of their population that either did not receive the care needed or when possible, had to travel to receive the care.
Click here to learn more about San Joaquin Valley College (SJVC).