Upon fully reopening, Linda Nelson, MSN, RN-BC, the facil-
ity's administrator, went back to working her usual 40 to 50
hours during the week, but is now checking COVID test
results on the weekend.
Being responsible for 45 employees keeps Ms. Nelson on
her toes. Most days she can be found completing staff evalua-
tions, ordering supplies and dealing with vendors, staffing
issues or physician concerns. Her nursing background even
lets her jump in to help start IVs on occasion.
The pandemic has also increased the frequency of "mini-
crises" Ms. Nelson has to manage. For example, some patient
test results don't come back soon enough for cases to proceed
as scheduled, and she's dealing with the constant threat of
staff exposure to COVID. "It's feast or famine," she says.
"Everything happens all at once or not at all, although lately it
seems like it's all at once."
Kris Sabo, RN, executive director and administrator at the
Pend Oreille Surgery Center in Ponderay, Idaho, says it's diffi-
cult to gauge how much more work she's doing because of the
pandemic, although she mentions having to keep the center's
J
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MOVING ON Pamela Borello, BS, RN, CNOR, CSSM, decided to become
a traveling nurse after spending many years as the leader of hospital
outpatient surgical departments.
Pamela
Borello
