Butler Hospital chief nursing officer Karen Allen, center front, and members of the nursing staff at Butler Memorial Hospital pose for a portrait outside of the hospital Thursday. Friday is National Nurses Day. Seb Foltz/Butler Eagle

Morale at Butler Memorial Hospital is rising among nursing staff.

Chief nursing officer at the hospital Karen Allen said the two-year period where waves of COVID-19 patients filled the intensive care unit was challenging for her staff.

However, recently more beds are clear or filled by patients who need care for other reasons, which has allowed more routine operations to resume for the nurses.

“I think everybody is enjoying that they are taking care of patients that they used to take care of pre-COVID on a more consistent basis,” Allen said. “The nurses performed well the whole time, now it's just not quite so stressful with patients filling the waiting room.

“It's a better experience for patients too.”

Since Friday is National Nurses Day and next week is National Hospital Week, the Butler Health System has plans to celebrate its employees. Festivities include daily prizes and a “Christmas in May” dinner Thursday.

Dr. David Vasil, BMH hospitalist director, said nurses at the hospital deserve to be recognized. Many of the duties they perform are vital to the experience of patients but can go unnoticed, he said.

“We rely on the nurses. They are our eyes and ears,” Vasil said. “Nurses are on the bedside or around all day long, and we count on them throughout the day to handle things or if the families have questions.”

According to Allen, the hospital has about 500 nurses on staff. They are needed to work in different departments and on different shifts to tend to patient needs 24/7.

Depending on the department, a nurse can be taking care of one patient or several at a time, Allen said, and they often exert a lot of emotional energy in caring for patients, especially during the pandemic.

Because of the variety of skills nurses use on the job, Allen said it can be a stressful, though rewarding, profession.

“Nurses who work in a hospital, they're working shifts, nights, they're missing family events because of their schedules,” Allen said. “The time they spend at the bedside holding (patients’) hands and making them feel less anxious, those are real times in nurses lives that fulfill them. I think that's why a lot of us went into nursing to begin with.”

Butler Hospital chief nursing officer Karen Allen says nursing is still a rewarding career. Seb Foltz/Butler Eagle

According to Allen, multiple nurses staff a hospital floor at a time, and normally they are accompanied by a lead nurse and work alongside doctors, who are also assigned several patients.

Vasil said cooperation between nurses and doctors is imperative.

“Behind the scenes, the patients may not realize we are communicating throughout the day — what we're ordering, what our plans are,” Vasil said. “Communication is one of the most important measures in providing good care to a patient.”

Allen said there was turnover in the hospital’s nursing staff during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many nurses at the hospital went above and beyond their duties to ensure patients had good care, she said, but it took a toll on morale.

However, she is optimistic about nursing as a career and says it is still a rewarding one.

“I think, for nursing, it's a really great time to get into the position,” she said. “There are a plethora of jobs available, the wages are going up across the country and it's still a very fulfilling job.”

Allen said there are many opportunities available to nurses, which extend to schools, assisting living facilities and even office building positions. “It's not all hospital based,” she said.

Allen, who has been in the nursing field since 1985, said nurses today work a lot more with patients’ specific needs and those who have been through high-acuity surgeries and procedures.

“Nurses are doing a lot more clinical assessment and care at the bedside than they used to do,” Allen said. “They actually are the eyes and ears for the providers. Sometimes there is less time, but what really fulfills you is having that human touch.”