Intensive Care Unit nurse Chandler Gibson, BSN, RN, CCRN, decided to pursue nursing to add “more tools in my toolkit.”
Chandler cares about people – her first college degree in Islamic and Arabic studies gave her an opportunity to go to the Middle East to help refugees. Then she realized she wanted to serve in a different way.
Benefit to Community
“I knew I wanted to do something that would benefit my community, and nursing gave me the ability to help people directly, every day,” she said. Now in her third year of nursing critical care patients in Munson Medical Center’s ICU, her commitment remains clear as ever.
“The most recent moment that stands out to me was when a patient of mine had a particularly rough day. This person loved to sing, so a bunch of our coworkers and one of our docs got together and sang karaoke with the patient,” she said. “I think it made the person’s day much brighter, and it really underscored to me the amazing people I work with. Our team doesn’t just care about the physical aspects of treating a patient, we care about people on a human level as well. Being in the hospital – especially right now – can be such an anxiety-ridden time. I like to think that we do an excellent job at caring for each person as an individual with specific needs.”
Year of Nurse
During this WHO declared “Year of the Nurse and Midwife” in 2020, Chandler hopes people come to appreciate the wide scope of care that her profession encompasses.
“Before I went to nursing school, I had no idea what roles the profession really included. I had no clue my nurses in the past had been vigilantly observing how much fluid I took in down to the milliliter, how many steps in the hall I took, how fast my heart would beat while I was sleeping, or who from home I depended on most,” she said. “I hope the country knows after this ‘Year of the Nurse’ how closely nurses pay attention to detail, simply because we care and want the best outcome possible for each person.”