Hospitals hold a special place in my heart. Throughout my professional journey, I experienced the role of direct caregiver in progressive care and cardiovascular units. I felt the fear and anxiety of my patients and their families. I held their hands as we talked about their grandchildren, their hopes and their confusion about their health issues. I remember feeling frustrated that I couldn't spend all of my time right next to them. Being a nurse in a US hospital today means you spend most of your time fighting for a spare second to ease human suffering. Charting complexities, constant interruptions, missing supplies and a 100% guarantee of chaos all lead to burnout, compassion fatigue and a loss of connection with your calling. You feel pulled in several directions at all times. And you start to lose your sense of meaning at work.

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Then as a new nurse manager, I remember feeling my team's same frustration and angst. The sound of a chaotic unit and the look on their faces. In desperation I reached out to a group of human factors engineers. We did time motion studies in my unit and with the direction of my nurses and techs, we came up with our own solutions. We reduced interruptions, made charting faster/easier and stocked our supplies and meds the way we needed. Repeat time motion studies showed we removed 2 HOURS of waste just in the first four hours of a shift. My team was elated and our outcomes became the best in the building. Our patients received more direct care from their highly skilled team.

I also experienced Sacred Vocation during this chaotic time. It was so transformational that I brought it to two other health systems as a facilitator.