Some nurses choose their career before they even enter kindergarten. Others come to nursing late in life, after a career in another field. For Skip Morelock, Ph.D., R.N., NEA-BC, the calling hit in college.
“I had gotten a job at our local community hospital,” said Morelock, administrative supervisor at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano. “Through that, I could see the difference that nurses made in the lives of patients, and I decided to become a nurse.”
And it’s a good thing he did, said Laura Massey, M.H.A., B.S.N., R.N., CPN, chief nursing officer.
“Skip is a true credit to nursing,” Massey said. “He cares about our patients as well as our nurses.”
The hospital’s “house supervisors” expedite patient throughput from the emergency room and from outside facilities, see that all inpatient areas are safely staffed, document transfers in and out of the facilities, help with patient complaints and service recovery, and basically serve as the “eyes and ears” of the hospital.
“During the past two years, all hospitals have faced staffing challenges,” Massey said. “Skip has handled them with skill and grace.”
Read more about Morelock, who was recently named Adjunct Professor of the Year at Collin College, and how he overcame a rare learning disability.
What did you want to be as a kid, and how did you ultimately choose your career?
As a kid, I’m not sure I really wanted to be anything! As I got older, I began gravitating toward science and science-related fields.
What does a typical workday look like?
Part of the challenge of being an administrative supervisor is that there really isn’t a typical workday. Every day, every shift presents new opportunities and challenges. After a handoff at the beginning of the shift, it’s pretty much nonstop for 12 hours. If there isn’t staffing to attend to, there are supplies to procure, service recovery opportunities, keeping up with the required paperwork and essentially putting out fires.
What’s your favorite part of your job, and what is the biggest challenge?
My favorite part is being able to make impactful decisions that directly influence patient care and then, unlike the clinical managers and directors, I can hand off the work (and drama!) to the next person.
The biggest challenge in this role, without a doubt, is the staffing. We’re responsible for lots of specialty units and service lines, so there is an inherent complexity in staffing and in getting it right – preferably before the next shift shows up.
What’s something people would be surprised to know about you?
I failed geometry and algebra – twice! – in high school. I was later diagnosed with a rare learning disability called dyscalculia, a condition where the brain can’t normally process numbers and quantities. After a lot of diligent practice, the “math switch” finally came on in graduate school. Now I volunteer some of my spare time as a statistics coach for Ph.D. students.
How do you do your life’s best work at Texas Health?
While this answer may seem a bit nebulous, I would say that I am in the best place that I can be at this point in my nursing career. Texas Health has allowed me to flourish in a complex and multifaceted role while still having the time to teach, conduct research and commit to volunteer work.
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