BRITTNEY SHAFER

Alexander Schmidt

Globe Gazette

Brittney Shafer knows childbirth can be one of the most rewarding things in life, and potentially the most stressful.

As far as her job as a labor/delivery nurse goes, “Providing care for your patients in that crucial time has to be most important,” Shafer says.

Shafer works at Iowa Specialty Hospitals and Clinics in Clarion, and is one of 12 nurses honored during National Nurses Week by the Globe Gazette.

Shafer, who attended North Iowa Area Community College, earned her nursing certificate in 2008 and completed an RN to BSN program through Grand Canyon University in November 2020. Shafer has been with Iowa Specialty since 2011.

“Brittney is always pushing to do what she believes is best for the patient and always listening to what the patient wants. She is never in a bad mood and wears a smile on her face daily.Brittney is the kind of nurse I dream to be one day,” wrote Michellynn Reiter,who nominated Shafer for the honor.

“The people that I work with, mutual respect makes work easy” says Shafer.

Jennifer Mewes, OB department leader at the hospital, praised Shafer, saying “Brittney has been a staple in our OB department for a long time. [We’re] glad she’s getting the recognition she deserves.”

Shafer started her nursing career in Charles City, but has spent the last 12 years in Clarion, sharing an acreage outside of Kanawha with her husband, Luke, and three kids The family’s free time is spent at West Hancock sporting events and caring for their two miniature western heritage cows, two Nigerian dwarf goats, chickens, and miniature donkey.

“Some of the best times are when your coworkers are your patients. We have a young group of nurses, most of them are moms themselves. One would go on maternity leave while the other was coming off”

Iowa Specialty Hospitals and Clinics

Shafer and the team at Iowa Specialty Hospitals’ various locations delivered more than 600 babies last year, and are on track to beat that record this year, compared to what Shafer says was “around 100 per year when I first started out.”

The yearly increase in babies has led to the need for Clarion’s Maternity Center to grow by an additional three new rooms, with construction underway and scheduled for completion this fall/winter. This will bring the OB department up to a total of eight beds along with new state-of-the art equipment that will improve the quality of care.

“It’s one of the best times of their [patient’s] lives, but there’s a lot of stress, so providing care for the patient in that crucial time has to be most important,” says Shafer.

Alexander Schmidt is an education and general assignment reporter with the Globe Gazette. You can reach him at alexander. schmidt@globegazette.com or 641-4210527

Green Shoot Media

The role nurses play in preventing infection has never been more clear than it has been since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention set out to provide free resources and additional training for health care workers so that they can prevent the spread of infectious diseases. They’re calling it Project Firstline and it brings together more than 75 healthcare,academic andpublichealthpartnerstohelpfrontline health care workers protect their patients, their coworkers and themselves from infectious disease threats.

The free resources come in a variety of formats and the CDC said they are designed“toempowerandenablehealthcare workers to think critically about infection control, using adult learning principles, educational best practices, CDC recommendations and the science that informs them.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it made the medical world even more aware of the gaps in infection control knowledge andpracticeinhealthcaresettingsnationwide. Project Firstline is an attempt to close those gaps.

Listening to health care workers

The CDC committed to developing the resources hand-in-hand with health care workers,recognizing their knowledge and expertise. They asked them how they did theirjobandworkedwiththemratherthan dictating policy to them.

Theyalsomadeitaprioritytoprovideall of their content to all health care workers regardless of previous education, background knowledge or job status.

Respecting time and bandwidth

Nurses work long hours and have little time available for training, especially outside of work hours. They’re often exhausted and after these past several years, many are on the verge of burnout and almost all have experienced trauma in the workplace

With this in mind, content is delivered inbite-sizedsegmentstailoredforpractice anddesignedtobeintegratedintothework day.Inanefforttomeethealthcareworkers where they are, it teaches the why behind infection control practices.

The information has been translated into Spanish and several Asian languages

Training materials and educational resources are available in many different formats, recognizing the diverse needs and learning preferences of health care nurses. They include in-person training, online training, videos, infographics, training toolkits and interactive tools.

Project Firstline accomplishments

In the first two years since it has launched,ProjectFirstlineanditspartners have created more than 200 educational products and training materials on health care infection control It has hosted more than750educationaleventsreachingmore than 65,000 health care workers. Their various platforms have received more than 84 million views.

Nurses can sign up for the Project Firstline newsletter or access educational materials online