Nurse steps up to support patients, colleagues on busy night

Night shift nurse Desirae Moreau volunteered to come in on her night off for a few hours to help give colleagues time to take a national survey. But when she saw how busy they were at UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies, she stepped up to support patient care through the night until 7 a.m.

Moreau, a float pool nurse and member of the unit-based nursing practice council, came in to round and free up colleagues across the hospital as the deadline was approaching for the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators survey.

“I went to round on float pool staff in the emergency department, and they were running around like crazy,” she said. “I ended up staying the rest of the night and helping patients.”

Patient volumes were high that night, and numerous patients were boarded in the ED. If Moreau hadn’t stayed to help, the ED nurses would have had to care for those inpatients in addition to emergency patients.

Moreau, a nurse since 2017, was inspired to pursue nursing after growing up with a relative who had cerebral palsy and required 24/7 care.

“They were just amazing people,” she said. “It seemed like a good career choice, and I’m glad I did it.”