Dwayne Sholes has good and bad days at work. As a procedural nurse at Scripps Memorial Hospital, his best days are when patients ask him when their surgery will begin ” after it’s already over.
Scripps Memorial Hospital honored Sholes as its “Nurse of the Year” during the 18th annual gala on Sunday, March 5 at California State University San Marcos. Sholes was one of 18 nurses from around the county who was honored at the gala.
After Sholes received letter after letter praising his care, the cardiology department couldn’t help but nominate him as a candidate. Sholes works as a procedural nurse in the cauterization lab, where he prepares patients for surgery by reviewing their lab work, providing medication and explaining the process.
“I hope that my honor as nurse of the year will send a message “¦ to others of what you can do and be if you are a nurse,” he said.
Sholes doesn’t take all the credit, though. Caring for a patient is a team effort that extends from his co-workers to the post-op nurses who care for patients after surgery, Sholes said. He also praised the hospital for providing an excellent environment for him to grow, learn and practice his trade, according to Sholes.
Being a male nurse also makes him an anomaly in the field. According to Male Nurse Magazine, only 6 percent of nurses in America are male. Many men do have a nurturing side, though, which makes nursing an ideal career for them, Sholes said.
“Your options are limitless,” he said. “You can become a nurse practitioner, teach or work for a medical device company. Nursing offers all that without spending many years in school, plus flexibility.”
Sholes, age 45, didn’t originally intend to become a nurse; he entered nursing school on a dare from a friend. As he excelled in his classes, he decided that it was a message from God. Twenty years later, he feels that he’s found his niche in procedural nursing in cardiology.
“I love the heart; it’s such a dynamic and wonderful organ,” Sholes said.
He started out at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles on the medical research floor. Six months later, he moved to the intensive care unit (ICU), where he worked night shifts for five years, eventually running the unit’s patient flow and admissions. In 1991, Sholes moved to San Diego and began working in the ICU at Scripps Green Hospital. He then worked in intervention radiology at Sharp Memorial Hospital for five years, and later at Scripps Memorial in East County for a year and a half before it closed. In 2001, Sholes started at the cath lab at Scripps Memorial in La Jolla.
The purpose of the March 5 gala wasn’t simply to pat nurses on the back. Proceeds from the evening will help fund scholarships for the nursing program at California State San Marcos. As baby boomers retire and hospitals scramble to meet state-imposed nurse-to-patient ratios, there is a desperate need for nurses, according to Don Stanziano, spokesman for Scripps Health.
Along with supporting training institutions, Scripps Health has implemented a phase-out retirement program to keep aging nurses working longer. The hospitals also run a mentoring program to match experienced nurses with incoming rookies to ease their first year in the hospital and reduce the turnover rate, Stanziano said.