• Telehealth
  • Contact
  • Bill Pay
  • Careers
Shodair-Sticky-LogoShodair-Sticky-LogoShodair-Sticky-LogoShodair-Sticky-Logo
  • About
    • Mission and History
    • Services
    • Campus Map
    • Culture at Shodair
    • Blueprint of Hope
    • Future of Shodair
    • Leadership
    • Board Members
    • Contact
  • Genetics
    • Medical Genetic Services
    • Laboratory
    • Forms
    • Genetics Staff
    • Wide Open Spaces
  • Psychiatry
    • Psychiatry Services
      • Outpatient Services
      • Acute Psychiatric Inpatient Program
      • Adolescent Residential Treatment
      • Case Management
      • Allied Therapy Department
      • CSCT Learning Center
    • School at Shodair
      • Educators
    • Request Admission
    • Paying For Services
    • Psychiatry Staff
  • Resources
    • Financial Assistance
    • Suicide Prevention Resources
    • Parenting Self-Care Tips
    • Parenting Resources
    • CHNA & CHIP
    • MHA – Mental Health America Toolkit
    • Pricing Transparency
    • Healthy Children
  • Foundation
    • CMN 2022 Champion
    • Past Champion Children
    • Friends of Shodair
  • Community
    • Community Commitment
    • Contest Winners
    • Event Calendar
    • Happenings
  • Donate
    • Ways to Give
    • Where Donations Go
✕
Benefactors aid children’s hospital with land donations; recreationists could also benefit
April 25, 2022
Hope is found at Shodair
May 10, 2022

Amy Harrison, Shodair Children’s Hospital

Watch Amy’s interview here!

Years of service: 19

Current position: Registered nurse on the Grasslands Unit for kids in acute care

Why did you become a nurse?

I went into nursing to help people. It’s really rewarding to be able to put forth effort that improves somebody’s life, and in nursing it’s like instant gratification. You can help somebody in the moment, and in that moment you relieve some of their unrest and it helps them personally to achieve health and healing.

What was one of your most memorable nursing experiences?

I help children, and sometimes they’re not doing really well. And for me it’s my most favorite when I just put forth my best effort to help them as a psychosocial human being for them to achieve wellness and to see that in the moment they can change their behavior. For me that’s a huge success. It’s just a tiny moment, but whenever they’re able to change their behavior in the moment it’s a big success.

What skills are most important for nurses?

As a nurse, and I would recommend anybody go into nursing who has an interest in it, it’s important to be timely — to do things on time. It’s important to be organized and to be flexible, but more than anything to provide care and to be caring for people is the most important.

What is the best advice you can give?

My best advice I would say is to do good self-care so that you can always bring your best self to your patients. So often families can’t be there for their patients and a nurse plays a real pivotal role in being a person who can care for someone who is unwell in their most needy moment. If you can imagine just being totally vulnerable and having somebody help you, it’s best if the person who’s helping you is whole themselves and can give of themselves and present, fully rested, balanced — provide as much care as possible.

What does it take to be a nurse in challenging times?

Nowadays with Covid and all the changes that have happened, for me it’s been a lot of role changes. My role has had to shift in between what part of the RN role at Shodair that I fill. In these times flexibility seems to be the most important. Just create wellness in your own life, show up, be on time, provide as much stability to your organization as you can. I feel like organizations need so much out of their workers these days that it’s important to provide the best nursing care that you can by just showing up.

Any final thoughts?

I would just reach out to anyone who’s thinking about being a nurse to really consider it. It’s so rewarding to put forth effort and have something change in the moment. There’s always feelings in our world where we wish we could change something for the better and as a nurse you really get to do that in the moment. Just changing one small thing for your patient or for your patient’s family, it can really change life for them when they’re in a state of vulnerability.

And anyone who feels like they could provide that level of care for someone, even just on a part-time basis or something, I would recommend being a nurse because it’s so rewarding in that you get to change people’s lives, and that’s rewarding. It’s also rewarding that you’re able to work in a variety of different settings, different hours — there’s a lot of different types of nursing that you can do. It’s important to learn a skill set that can benefit others, and if you have a skill set of nursing there’s always something you can do. I’m a busybody, I like to contribute, and I feel like there’s other people who are probably hungry to contribute as well, and nursing is very rewarding.

Share

Related posts

January 20, 2023

Luring Out-of-State Professionals Is Just the First Step in Solving Montana’s Health Worker Shortage


Read more
January 17, 2023

Shodair hosts open houses to show off its new Helena hospital


Read more
November 10, 2022

Symposium at Shodair


Read more


Careers Happenings Bill Pay Patient Portal Contact Us
Log In

2020 Business of the Year


© 2023 Shodair Children’s Hospital Montana, a not-for-profit, section 501(c)(3) - All Rights Reserved.
Shodair Children’s Hospital provides mental health and genetic services across Montana regardless of one’s ability to pay.
2755 Colonial Drive PO Box 5539 | Helena, Montana 59604 | Phone: 406.444.7500 | Toll Free: 1.800.447.6614 | Fax: 406.884.2085. | Privacy Policy | Refund Policy
Notice of Privacy Practices | Site by The Wendt Agency