Nurse of the Year knows about hard work

Becki Davis, an operating room surgical nurse for Atrium Medical Center was recently named Nurse of the Year by the hospital doctors.

GARY STELZER Becki Davis, an operating room surgical nurse for Atrium Medical Center was recently named Nurse of the Year by the hospital doctors.

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By Jessica Heffner, Staff Writer 1:02 AM Monday, March 15, 2010

MIDDLETOWN — You might not remember her face, but it’s likely Becki Davis was there for your last surgery.

For 20 years, Davis has worked as a surgical nurse. Recently named Nurse of the Year by the physicians at Atrium Medical Center, she has dedicated her life to learning what’s next in the world of surgical medicine so she can best serve her patients.

Davis, 48, is one of just 101 Certified Registered Nurse First Assistants, or CRNFAs, in Ohio.

“When Becki started, I knew she was a go-getter from the get-go,” said Sue Hammons, a fellow surgical nurse who has mentored Davis during her own 40-year career. “She wanted to know everything and do anything.”

Growing up on a farm in Lebanon, Davis said she is used to hard work and long hours. This experience helped push her as a 26-year-old single parent to head back to nursing school to obtain a higher degree while still working full-time at Atrium. She credits her family for helping her make it through.

“(My childhood) made me realize you can work from dawn to dusk and you are going to be okay. When everyone works together it is not too exhausting because you are holding each other up,” Davis said.

Despite this work ethic, it still came as a shock to Davis to be nominated for the award. In fact, it wasn’t until she realized Hammons was also nominated that Davis realized just what an honor it was to be named, recalled Lena Fogle, nursing director.

But since her teenage years working at McDonald’s together, Dr. Greg Siewny — who nominated Davis for the nursing award — said she has always been a team player whose “friendliness and levity gets the job done.

“She is the lifeblood of this operation,” he said.

While she is involved in as many as 20 different surgeries a week, it’s rare to be recognized by her patients, mostly because they are unconscious, Hammons said.

“This (award) is awesome because you don’t always get that pat on the back and to have (the doctors) you admire and respect write something about Becki ... she just personifies the O.R. nurse,” she said.

While Davis said she was honored to receive the award, the most fulfilling part of her job is helping her neighbors.

“I take care of the people I go to church with, that my kids play soccer with, that I work with and that is what I like about my job. I like taking care of the people I know and live with,” she said.

20-year nursing veteran inspiredfor career in health by TV show

Some people credit their parents for pushing them to a career in medicine. Nurse Becki Davis credits a childhood growing up watching “M.A.S.H.”

“I knew from when I was a little kid I wanted to work in the operating room,” the 20-year nursing veteran said. “I think we’re a little more serious (than ‘M.A.S.H’) but I do feel it reflected the relationship between the nursing staff and the surgeons.”

It’s a relationship that Davis said must be respectful and tight-knit. Handling everything from elective surgeries to open heart to trauma cases, she describes surgery as a musical ensemble, where everyone must anticipate the move of the team so as to flow together in harmony.

Being an operating room nurse, it’s also about physical closeness. The short, chipper nurse suddenly jumps up from her chair and looms within just inches of another person’s face to demonstrate how near she has to work with physicians and nurses when performing a surgery.

After 10 hours, most people would feel uncomfortable. But Davis explains “I spend more time (with the surgeons) than I do my family some days. In a small room, you develop a good working relationship.”

It’s for this relationship that Davis was recently named Nurse of the Year by the physicians at Atrium Medical Center. While Davis described the award as “overwhelming, because a lot of people work hard everyday,” a walk near the O.R. makes it clear just why she was nominated.

Not a physician or nurse walks by without Davis smiling or cracking a joke. Many give her a hug or pat her on the shoulder in acknowledgement as they go by.

Although she has only known her for two weeks, new Chief Nursing Officer Lisa Gossett said she can see why her co-workers wrote in her nomination that Davis “is the epitome of the perfect nurse.

“(From) my initial meeting with her, I could tell she just has an incredible spirit about her,” Gossett said. “The (award) was just humbling for her and she was just humbled that she won.”

Dr. Greg Siewny, a physician with Hilltop Obstetrics & Gynecology who nominated Davis for the award, said while she is “happy-go-lucky,” she is also very calm and level-headed in situations like emergency Caesarean sections.

“In a crash C-section you get them out in seconds, not minutes. But with Becki there you could focus on the patient, the mom. There is not a lot of yelling, she is just level and calm,” he said.

Being a CRNFA requires at least 50 credit hours of ongoing training on top of all the classes needed to keep up on the new surgical technology.

“I work with some of the smartest people I have ever met. I like the camaraderie and the sharing of information. It’s a collaborative effort,” she said.

As a CRNFA and member of the Open Heart Team, Davis has to be on-call more than other nurses. Despite this, she is always enthusiastic and often is the first to volunteer for difficult cases, said Lena Fogle, nursing director.

Surgery can be intense, with hours spent on your feet working on one patient. The hardest times are those dealing with trauma patients who, despite best efforts, die on the table.

“When somebody dies in trauma, it’s hard,” Davis said, her normally smiling face scrunching up as her mouth forms into a thin line. “But I put a lot of trust in the surgeons and the anesthesiologist. As long as everyone has done the best they can to care for that patient, the rest of it is outside of their hands.”

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