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Worldview 2008: A global nursing perspectiveColoring outside the lines
by Gabriela Stoeger Stevens The journey of life is rarely a straight line, and neither is my story. Having lived on three continents by age 18—Europe, North America and Africa—I had learned to simulate belonging, but I had never quite landed in the cultures I found myself in. A native of Austria, I came to the United States as a young woman and attended Loma Linda University School of Nursing in Loma Linda, California. I graduated in 1980 with a BSN and was inducted into Gamma Alpha Chapter of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. At the time, I didn’t really see myself as a career nurse. Hoping to go on to medical school or perhaps earn a doctorate in another field, I allowed my honor society membership to lapse. It remained inactive for a quarter-century. Eventually, I shelved the idea of medicine as a career. After observing the long hours that my husband worked as a physician, I didn’t want our young children to have two absentee parents. Functioning essentially as a single parent of four children, I was also very busy. I worked part time as a specialty float-pool nurse at a local community hospital while enrolled in a molecular biology program at the University of Colorado at Boulder. I loved academia and seriously considered getting a doctorate in molecular biology and applied mathematics. But when one of my kids, for health reasons, required my concentrated attention, I parted ways with university life, shelving all previous academic goals. Fast forward to 2001. Now officially single and having to redefine myself as more than daughter of, wife of, mother of, part-time nurse of, I inadvertently stumbled into a new vocation. Reconnecting to my roots in nursing, the calling I once pursued reluctantly, I started a “boutique” staffing agency in Colorado for perioperative and perianesthesia nurses. Geared toward the ambulatory surgery center community, the agency was narrow in focus and deeper in specialization. The need for the service we provided was so intense that the business took off before I could even write and implement a proper business plan. We’ve been in business for more than six years, and it has been an amazing experience on every level. Despite the nursing shortage, felt particularly in the specialty skill-set arena, the company has grown tremendously by word-of-mouth advertising. Our marketing tool? Give nurses the freedom to call their own shots in terms of scheduling—no mandated calls, no minimum hours required to stay on staff (except that they have to stay current in their competencies and skills) and, of course, pay at the top of the local scale. Seasoned nurses, many in their third-plus decade of work, are burned out by the mandates and requirements of inpatient facilities and would rather leave the profession than take one more 12-hour shift or night on call. As a company, we offer smaller, more manageable schedules to accommodate parents with small children, or older staff members wishing to work a half-day instead of a marathon. Our clients have come to accept that when we commit to a shift, the folks coming in—even those sharing shifts—are happy to be there and are on top of their game, and their service is exceptional. For me, it’s a privilege to serve nurses in the manner I would like to be treated. Another jog in my journey
In the past four years, by grace and good fortune, I have found myself involved with two medical-mission projects in Vietnam and Cambodia. I have now traveled to that region 10 times. The desperate plight of health care, particularly in Cambodia, so struck me that I have taken two to three months at a time out of my busy schedule to get in the “trenches” with my Cambodian peers to observe, work and understand their needs on a completely visceral level. I was asked to join the board of directors of “Jeremiah’s Hope,” a nondenominational, faith-based organization, and have served in that role since 2005. Our organization provides tertiary care—complex, interventional internal medicine and surgery—to the poor in Cambodia. Ninety percent of the country’s people fall in this category. In addition to the clinical services we provide, there is an ongoing support effort, under the auspices of the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Defense (their health care systems are completely separate) to develop and standardize curricula for medicine and nursing. To support beleaguered nursing programs in Cambodia, we have contacted various directors of nursing in the country and will be inviting nurse leaders from around the globe who are experienced in curriculum development to assist in the ongoing process.
The honor society’s recent biennial convention in Baltimore, a rich and rewarding experience, yielded many contacts. Huy Sovath, MD, MA, RN, director of the Technical School for Medical Care (TSMC) in Phnom Penh, will surely be a candidate for induction in our worthy organization in the near future. The school he directs was founded in the 1950s under the name, Center for the Training of Nurses and Midwives. After being shut down for five years by the Khmer Rouge, the school reopened under its new name in 1980. In 1997, the school’s scope was broadened to include training of physical therapists, laboratory technicians and radiology technicians. My personal efforts on behalf of “Jeremiah’s Hope” extend beyond the above-mentioned focus to include disadvantaged young women and women at risk in Cambodia. Selling young girls’ virginity and promoting prostitution as a “solution” to familial destitution are problems of epidemic proportions. A pilot project has yielded great results. We have trained a small group of young ladies for entry-level hospital work, such as cleaning perioperative areas, instrument preparation and nursing assistance. It is my dream and passion to improve the abysmal state of sanitation in most Cambodian hospitals by assisting young women who have few options to develop salable skills.
The crooked road, the detours and the obstacles in my journey have brought me to the brilliant conclusion that nursing can re-invent itself as much as we allow ourselves to do the same. Nursing is a business, a tool, a lever arm for change, a grand adventure and a true calling. It’s never too late to come aboard! It is good to honor principles of science, clinical practice and academia while coloring outside the lines! RNL Gabriela Stoeger Stevens, RN, BSN, is the owner of Strictly Surgical LLC in Evergreen, Colorado, USA, a staffing company that works exclusively for nurses who have experience working on surgical units. The company serves ambulatory surgery centers in the Denver metro area, Colorado Front Range and Pacific Northwest (Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington). For more information: To learn more Stevens and her company, Strictly Surgical LLC, visit http://www.denvernursingstar.com/newsletter/ |
