Staff Writer- Quad City Herald

It was the need to get what he called a "real job" that sent Dan Smith and his wife Sue Elson to nursing school. But that's not what has kept Smith in the profession for a decade.

Nurses are able to help people in their times of need, to watch their progress; it's "really a fulfilling thing," Smith said. "That's worth a lot."

Before entering the nursing profession Smith and Elson worked for a company that set up campsites for emergency workers at forest fires or other situations where lodging was limited or nonexistent. But eventually they decided they needed-well, real everyday jobs. Smith worked while his wife was a student in the nursing program at Wenatchee Valley College-North in Omak. When she completed her studies he went to school, he said.

He chose nursing for a number of reasons, he said; "I do like to work with people," and nursing is a great field for that. In addition, while nursing is a real job, a real job doesn't have to be dull. "It's a job that I knew I never would get bored in. There's something new to learn every day." Nursing might be stressful, he said, but it's never boring.

There is one indispensable component to making it as a nurse, however. "If you don't have that want in yourself to help people, you won't be a successful nurse," he said.

Nursing students, then and now, spend part of their training at hospitals in the region, learning the ropes under the watchful eye of experienced nurses. Okanogan Douglas Hospital is part of that program; in fact, last week nursing students were at the hospital, being guided through some of their clinical training by Smith and other nurses on the floor. He said he thinks that's important, both for experienced nurses and students. "That's really a big part of our job, is bringing in the next generation."

Smith said he knew nursing would be a challenging job, but "you learn that where the real challenges are aren't what you thought you'd run into." The biggest challenge is to ensure every patient gets the care they need and deserve, because everything else is secondary to that.

At Okanogan Douglas Hospital patient care is "absolutely our top priority," Smith said; everybody's job, from the nurse's station to the billing department, is to ensure the best care for patients and their families. Whatever is going on at the hospital it can't interfere with patient care, he said.

In Smith's opinion nurses occupy a critical niche in the medical field. They're patient advocates, he said, helping patients get through times of illness and stress. "We do a lot of teaching," explaining to people what this medicine will do or what that procedure means. "We translate doctor's orders into English," Smith said. The doctors at Okanogan Douglas Hospital are really good about communicating with their patients and taking time with them, Smith said, but sometimes patients will hesitate to ask questions. Sometimes those questions come to the nurses instead.

Sometimes a patient is unsure about the nature of a procedure, and the nurses help provide the details, get the picture in perspective. "We help them understand the whole procedure that's ahead of them." The doctor may order an MRI, for example, and the nurse may be the one who explains what's going to happen, what to eat and what not to eat, what to do and what not to do in the hours leading up to the procedure. The nurses help surgery patients understand what's going to happen, help new diabetes patients with some of the adjustments.

Smith is a medical-surgical nurse, which means he helps take care of patients every day and works the operating room when there are surgeries. But at rural hospitals like Okanogan Douglas Hospital the staff has to be ready to take on a number of different jobs. Smith has training to work the intensive care unit as well, he's part of the hospital's code team (when a patient has a sudden problem) and its trauma team. He helps out in the radiology department, administering IV for certain procedures, and will do blood draws for the lab. The need for versatility is a good thing, in Smith's opinion. "It really helps sharpen your skills."

Smaller hospitals have some advantages over their urban counterparts, Smith said. There are fewer specialists in a small hospital but patients get more one on one care. And there's a lot of opportunity for teamwork among the staff; that happens at Okanogan Douglas Hospital, and Smith said that's an advantage for staff and patients alike. "All our departments work really well together. Which is one of the reasons I like working at this particular facility."

There's a team spirit at Okanogan Douglas Hospital, Smith said, and he likes that "really a lot. In my opinion this is a very unique facility. The attitude here is the best I've seen anywhere."

Smith and his wife live in Twisp, and he's been in Okanogan County for about 30 years, he said. "As one of the old-timers told me, he said he was going to have to upgrade me from pilgrim to newcomer now, after 30 years." But he was raised in Los Angeles. Despite that he wasn't really a city boy, he said. "That's all I could think of as a kid, was getting out in the woods."

Their nursing careers have taken Smith and his wife way out of Okanogan County, however; they took a leave of absence to volunteer to work in the areas of Southeast Asia devastated by the December 2006 tsunami. "That was very satisfying work."