I work the night shift with Nelson on a regular basis. He is always very helpful and frequently fills the charge nurse role. He is very quiet about how helpful he actually is and so it is easy to take the things he does for granted.

During every shift he rounds through the entire floor and introduces himself as the charge RN to all the patients and visiting family members. The nurses feel very comfortable asking Nelson for nursing care advice and he always gives a cogent, concise and proper response that takes into account the safety and well-being of the patient.

Nelson is very involved in Unit Council. In an effort to address the issue of patient acuity, safety and balanced work assignment for the nursing staff, Nelson has taken a leadership role in implementing the patient acuity tool 2SE is currently trialing to enable management to have a more accurate picture of the level of care and attention each patient (and family) needs throughout the course of the shift and to accurately assign caseload to the next shift.

The level of involvement with the unit that Nelson has cultivated over the past five years has brought Nelson to a point in his career where he has become a potent force for excellent patient care and high staff morale.

I (and my patients though they may perhaps be unaware of it) experienced the potent force that is Nelson Monastrial one recent night shift. Upon arriving on the unit to work, I found 2SE in a situation of struggling to cope with late-day shift admissions and transfers. I was assigned five patients with varying acuity levels.

Because of Nelson’s familiarity with the staff, his in-depth knowledge of the acuity tool he has helped to develop and his feel for the dynamics of staff on the floor, he was able to immediately step in and determine that this patient situation could potentially be unsafe This was not an easy thing to do because staffing was tight with not much room to change things around.

Nelson reassigned one of the patients and took another one himself, and assigned me with three patients, rather than five. It was an extremely busy shift, but all patients received excellent patient care and there was even time to address very complex family dynamics for one particular patient. The end result was because of Nelson’s unique ability to read the situation on the floor, everything turned out ok. Patients were safe and workload was evenly distributed among the nurses.

I believe that Nelson has found his calling in nursing and a home on 2SE. It is widely believed among that staff that Nelson was in healthcare during his Navy career. This is not the case. During Nelson’s 20 year career in the Navy, he was involved in encryption for six years and spent the remaining 14 years in fire control on ships. He has been an RN since July 27, 2005. Harrison Medical Center is Nelson’s first place of employment as an RN.

A couple of final thoughts; anything social that occurs among the staff such as going to movies or plays generally has Nelson as the organizing and driving force behind getting the RNs and CNAs to attend. He also has been known to buy coffee drinks for the entire staff on nights.

Nelson has an amazing and innate gift to guide the floor without anyone even realizing he is doing this. In short, Nelson “serves.” He is an excellent example of what is finest about Harrison and the organization is extremely fortunate to have him. He touches patients, families and staffs lives in ways that they are mostly unaware of. It is my belief that if he disappeared tomorrow there would be a palpable ache on the floor and a gap that would only be noticed after he was gone.

Nelson has helped literally thousands of people who never knew him with his quiet fortitude and selflessness.