Growing up in Omaha, Tim Hoarty often found himself as captain of the sports teams he played on. Those early games of identifying, training and deploying talent nudged him toward his current role as a service leader in the critical care ICU at Nebraska Methodist Hospital.
Landing that job came in the fall of 2019 — the eve of the coronavirus pandemic, the greatest health care challenge in modern history. COVID was his baptism by fire in the ICU, where he’s responsible for the unit’s training, hiring, safety, qualifying and updating.
“What I love about critical care is that you’re involved in every single aspect of the patient’s care,” said Hoarty, who was previously a nurse in Methodist’s cardiac unit for seven years. “It’s tough not being in direct patient care (as) it was my first love, but you really get to know everything going on with the patient.”
He is also the conduit for information affecting the patient.
“I’m always responsible for getting the latest information from our professional groups and especially from the Centers for Disease Control,” Hoarty said. “It’s important for me to provide evidence-based medicine and make sure they have what they need.”
Maintaining control and keeping the team motivated is essential to his job, but Hoarty admits COVID is something that makes a person feel powerless.
“There is tragedy and plenty of it, and it’s not insignificant at all,” he said. “Our people are very resilient, but despite that you have to come up with ways to prevent burnout. You see the reactions on our nurses’ faces as the numbers go up and as the numbers go down.”
The nurses of the ICU recognized what they had with their new leader, especially for devoting time to the ICU with his wife expecting their first child. Within his first year, the nurses nominated him for the DAISY Foundation’s Nurse Leader Award, a national honor. The award — a first for a Methodist employee — was presented at a surprise event last fall.
“I was surprised and humbled,” he said. “This year — these past 15 months — show what we do really has been a team effort. Obviously (COVID) is an event that will be discussed throughout history in terms of how it affected all of us in health care. Our nurses have shown a new dynamic and demonstrated they’re ready to handle whatever walks in.”
