Caitlin Pohlen started her college education intending to become a music therapist. Although her path instead led her to a career in emergency nursing, she still spends plenty of time listening and guiding others to listen.
Pohlen, of Minnesota, said she helped many of her friends at Valparaiso University study for their nursing classes while she was studying to be a music therapist. When she did a little more investigation into her job prospects, however, she decided another career would be more practical.
“I asked myself, what could I do within the same realm of helping people,” Pohlen said.
Knowing how much she enjoyed learning along with her nursing student friends, she made the switch. She initially found the ED to be “terrifying,” and vowed never to work there, but after shadowing in her ED for a while, she changed her mind.
“I loved that every day was something different. I loved that something as simple as a kind word, a warm blanket or a cup of ice could make all the difference to someone having their worst day,” Pohlen said.
Sometimes what can make all the difference is listening. Pohlen, who joined ENA’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee this year, is a strong supporter of LGBTQ+ coworkers, patients and their families, and she knows that making sure people are heard is so important.
“We had a patient come in who used different pronouns, and my team wasn’t quite sure how to figure out what their pronouns were. I said, ‘All you have to do I ask,’” said Pohlen, who is patient care supervisor at Allina Health. She accompanied her colleague to the patient’s room and modeled the conversation.
“I asked ‘What are your pronouns? What name do you like to use?’ Later, the nurse turned to me and said, ‘It really was that easy, wasn’t it?’” Pohlen recalled.
Pohlen, who identifies as pansexual, shows up as an ally whenever she can at the hospital. She has worked with her hospital system’s human resources and IT departments to ensure employees can add their chosen pronouns and names to their email signatures, which can make a big difference in the daily lives of people who don’t identify with the gender or name they were assigned at birth.
“For some people, it is detrimental to their mental health to see their dead name every day, and that’s a relatively simple fix that can do a lot,” Pohlen said.
She also helps share resources, such as information about available work benefits. Pohlen also wants people to listen more carefully to introverts. She has done research on introverts in the workplace, and in the spring she delivered a presentation to the Minnesota Organization of Leaders in Nursing.
“It was one of my first nursing leaders in the emergency department who told me I would never survive if I didn’t become more like another coworker who was a more extroverted person,” she said. “It was really disheartening. But because I am stubborn, I said I’m going to do this and I’m going to do it my way.”
It’s important for leaders to understand that their introverted employees might respond differently in group settings, such as waiting to comment until the end of or after a meeting, but that their comments are still valid, Pohlen said. Some may need to have a place where they can have quiet time to regroup. She is currently working on her master’s degree and plans to incorporate her research into her thesis.
“I want to continue to grow and teach not only about that, but allyship and D,E & I, and showing everyone that it’s OK to be who you are,” Pohlen said. “You should be accepted for who you are, and if you’re not, that’s something that in the workplace we need to know about.”