Portait of a Tender (#15) - Chandler - Coronary Care Unit

Chandler was born the eldest of three boys. Reflecting back on his childhood, Chandler notes that “I was very much the mother hen, growing up with them.” It was in his nature to look

after others, and as he got older he planned to work in healthcare some day. As a student at

JMU, Chandler pursued a bachelor’s degree in health sciences and considered several different

graduate programs, including physical therapy, healthcare administration and physician’s

assistant . He had several friends in the nursing program at JMU and they “loved it”. He finally

decided on nursing because of its flexibility and vast range of opportunities. He was accepted

into UVA’s Clinical Nurse Leader program and started his first day of classes one day after his

graduation from JMU. He was on the path to success, and there was no time to waste.

Chandler completed his 500 hour Capstone project on the Coronary Care Unit at UVA Health and

graduated in 2018. He started as an RN on the same unit two months later and has been there

ever since. With only two years under his belt, Chandler eased into the role of charge nurse,

utilizing his education in leadership and finding his biggest rewards in helping his fellow nurses.

Though tending patients is a valued piece of his day, he also enjoys tending to the needs of

other nurses, so that they can better serve their patients as well.

When asked about the most challenging elements of working through the pandemic, Chandler

spoke first to the reality of death and dying in the hospital, how nurses are expected to assist

their patients with this transition, and how those expectations increased and intensified during

the pandemic due to restrictions and isolation. “Dealing with death and dying is built within us as

nurses. It’s part of what we do, and I don’t have to work hard to hold a dying patient’s hand and

to listen.”

Though painful and difficult, this wasn’t the hardest part for Chandler. What he found most

challenging was donning “all the extra hats that nurses were now expected to wear.” The

exhaustive paperwork, charting, and administrative tasks all worked to pull Chandler away from

patients and fellow nurses and this reality has also led nurses to flee the field in droves. This

massive resignation has produced a work force consisting largely of new graduates and

contract (aka travel) nurses. “We pretty much see a new face on our unit every day.” As charge

nurse, Chandler now adds orientation tasks to his long list of daily administrative duties. These

new nurses need to be shown where supplies are kept, where the break room and bathrooms

are, the list goes on. Somehow Chandler is getting it all done with perseverance and patience,

and according to the colleague who nominated him, “He is a strong role model and the unit

would break without him.”