Remembering What’s Most Important: Nurse Leaders Start Meetings with ‘Mission Moments’

Every day, nurses have such an important impact on the care, comfort and outcomes of patients throughout Cleveland Clinic’s hospitals and ambulatory care settings. At the start of each Executive Nursing Meeting, nurse leaders are asked to share a “Mission Moment.” These are usually in the form of a letter or a nurse manager relaying the story.

“We can get so caught up in the ‘busy-ness’ – and the ‘business’ – of nursing leadership that these moments are so very important,” says Chief Caregiver Officer K. Kelly Hancock, DNP, RN, NE-BC, FAAN. “By stopping and taking time to hear a grateful message from a patient and/or their family, we are getting back to what it means to be a nurse caregiver and why we are really here. Hearing these messages serves as a reset for all of us when we come together.”

Here are some special mission moments that were shared in 2019 by nurse leaders.

Cleveland Clinic Children’s

Making a young boy feel at home
A young boy was brought to the Emergency Department by a family member citing she was no longer able to care for him. The boy had suffered a severe brain injury when he was a toddler, and he now suffered with behavioral issues. Soon the family lost custody. An associate chief nursing officer told this story at the nurse executive meeting: This boy had many “mothers” – our nurses – who all worked on his manners and celebrated each holiday with him, including his 9th birthday. Their care enabled him to be ready to take advantage of a new home, which was secured expertly by Cleveland Clinic’s Social Work team. After 149 days in Cleveland Clinic Children’s, the young boy was discharged to a foster home with parents who had adopted other medically complicated children. His story is an exemplar of the amazing work we can do as nurses to help the most vulnerable of patients.

Cleveland Clinic Lutheran Hospital Mood Disorders Clinic

Going the extra step to help a behavioral health patient
A nurse manager reported: In 2019, a patient was admitted to the mood disorder unit who was deaf and legally blind. She was suicidal and having behavioral problems. Usually her behavior would not have warranted an admission to this particular unit, but due to her vulnerability this was the safest place for her to be admitted. Upon arrival she was given her own room for safety reasons, and in-person interpreter services were arranged. Our nursing staff increased their knowledge of care for a patient with developmental disabilities. Using the appropriate resources, they learned basic sign language skills and improved assessment skills for a patient that was exhibiting aggressive behaviors, psychotic features, and needed help with wound care.

Cleveland Clinic’s main campus Emergency Department

Heart procedure in ED saves man
“Your team is a blessing to the healthcare community,” wrote the wife of a man who was brought into Cleveland Clinic’s main campus emergency department and received care for a heart scare. She noted the “friendliness and caring” from everyone she met. Her letter said: “While in the ED my husband was given a cardioversion. I was allowed to stay in the room. What I witnessed was so impressive! A team of amazing experts in harmony!” The man was able to attend an important event that weekend, and eventually had a heart procedure at Cleveland Clinic’s Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute. “We are so grateful and want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” his daughter’s letter concluded.

Cleveland Clinic’s Sydell & Arnold Miller Family Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute

Educating and bringing humor to one man’s care
A man from out of state who had a heart transplant at Cleveland Clinic’s main campus wrote a long letter thanking the “angels” who took care of him for more than a month post transplant. He wrote: “You were my instructors who showed me how to survive and remain upbeat and gracious despite being tethered by my central line to my IV Christmas tree. You sensed when I was feeling depressed and threw me a lifeline. You let me know that crying was OK but laughing was much more fun. In fact we laughed a lot… You explored reality with me—my own existence—and helped me grow as a person. Your kindness and openness provided me with a forum in which I could communicate and dispense with my fears and worries, and purge all negativity.”

Caring for a man who passed away in the hospital (cardiac nursing unit)
The man’s daughter wrote: “Watching each of you form your own special relationship with my dad made my soul so happy, and I know it did his too. Your extra visits to the room, sharing stories with him, listening to his advice and wisdom… those things helped to ease his mind and added joy to his heart. He loved people… so thank you for giving that to him. My dad never wanted to pass in our home—‘Our houses are made for living, not for dying,’ is what he told us. So thank you for making the place that we last spent time together as a family as much like a home as you possibly could… each of you went above and beyond. You will forever be in our hearts.”