As Nurses Week continues, we salute and shine a spotlight on Nicole Morby, RN with Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City for the lifesaving care she provides every day … in the hospital and her local community. Read further to learn more about her story.
My path to becoming a nurse took a couple twists and turns, but I eventually landed exactly where I was meant to be and am doing what gives me such a fulfilling purpose in life.
I wanted to work in the healthcare field my entire life. I started college as a chemistry major and pre-med student. Along the way, in my sophomore year, I discovered a love for public relations and event planning. So, I graduated with a degree in those disciplines and then followed my first passion, receiving a nursing degree a few years later.
For a little over five years now, I’ve been caring for patients, their families and the community at-large to ensure they attain, maintain or recover optimum health and quality of life. In order to deliver in this manner, I have to be certain that I’m providing the highest quality of patient care, which means staying abreast and remaining current on guidelines, patient and/or hospital protocol and training.
CPR is a core skill that nurses must possess and be able to confidently and competently perform when a patient suffers a cardiac arrest. Intermountain Healthcare, my employer since 2015, took a significant step in 2017 to ensure its nursing staff received the best CPR training through implementation of the Resuscitation Quality Improvement® (RQI®) program. And actually, RQI, which was co-developed by the American Heart Association and Laerdal Medical, is so much more than training; it is a quality improvement program that verifies CPR competency in 10-minute, simulated skills sessions every 90 days.
In my role as an operating room nurse, I’ve participated in the RQI program for about a year and a half. Although it is a requirement of my employment and prepares me to respond to in-hospital cardiac arrest, I recently was able to make a profound difference in a family’s life one Wednesday afternoon.
It was the start of the fourth quarter of 2018 and my RQI assignment was infant CPR. I tackled it early since the holidays were approaching, which is the busiest time in the operating room. One week later, I was having lunch with a friend at a fast food restaurant when a 3-month-old needed CPR. I responded calmly and took action. After the event was over, I continued eating my lunch as if nothing happened. My friend couldn’t believe the way I responded and was shocked that I returned to normal behavior. Throughout the day, I reflected on my friend’s reaction. It hit me! It was confidence that allowed me to respond and act so calmly and quickly. I was so grateful I completed my RQI skills session the week before, leaving infant CPR fresh on my mind.
A real-life event in the community is very different than in the operating room or on the hospital floor. I expect these situations at work; I am wearing my nurse hat and handling difficult circumstances every day. On that Wednesday afternoon, however, I was wearing my mom hat since my three children were with me. I was able to switch roles very quickly and smoothly, and with full confidence in my actions. I thank my hospital for giving me the confidence and ability to act by implementing the latest technology in CPR quality improvement.
While I still dabble in event planning periodically, nursing and caring for others ultimately became my career path. Saving that infant’s life confirmed that I made the right choice.
