Asheville diesel mechanic turned Mission ICU nurse talks challenges, passions in industry

ASHEVILLE — As Richard Grissom, 36, stood in Mission Hospital watching a group of nurses help his wife give birth to their son, the then-diesel mechanic’s childhood desire to don his own pair of scrubs was rekindled.

Now nearly nine years later, Grissom has replaced wrench with stethoscope, working as a Registered Nurse in Mission Hospital’s Medical Intensive Care Unit.

“It’s strange how similar or well you’re able to kind of match things up in both fields to an extent,” Grissom said. “Working through an electrical problem is very similar to working through a neurological issue … and you can almost associate blood pumping to oil pumping, but obviously the stakes are quite a bit higher.”

The 36-year-old father said, “it was definitely nerve wracking” to leave the mechanic job making “really good money” and move into a certified nursing assistant position at Pardee Hospital’s emergency department while going through Blue Ridge Community College’s two-year nursing program.

“But I could not look back on a single day and wish it to turn out any different,” Grissom said.

Having done about three clinical rotations on the medical ICU floor at Mission Hospital, he started there as registered nurse after graduation. Grissom said he chose that unit because of the team of people working there and the acuity, or severity of illness, of the patients.

"I really feel like being on the frontline of getting that patient better, and the hand I'm able to put on helping that patient get better, feels like it's right where I need to be," Grissom said.

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On the medical ICU floor, Grissom sees patients who are in multi system organ failure, renal patients, and patients on a ventilator, with their main focus being pulmonary issues. It's a 24-bed unit, and they usually have right around 20 patients, he said.

Though the floor's unit or "charge" nurse decides what the nurse-to-patient ratio should be on any given day depending on how sick the patients are, Grissom says each nurse usually handles one, sometimes two, patients.

Grissom said he has not personally felt the effects of nursing shortages, which have been a problem both locally and nationally. In a recent survey conducted by National Nurses United, 68% of nurses across the U.S. involved in this year’s union contract bargaining with HCA, which owns Mission Hospital, said they infrequently or never had enough staffing coverage to take meal and rest breaks.

Mission's own staffing levels came into question in 2023. But Grissom said that on his floor, even when he's started to feel overwhelmed, "somebody is always right there to help."

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As much as he loves helping people, Grissom also recognized that the nursing profession comes with its challenges. The largest challenge for him was taking his ego out of the situation, understanding that "you are never going to know everything" and being open to learn from those around you, he said.

Grissom referenced "without going into too much detail," a patient he was monitoring in the ICU who was on the verge of either getting better or "taking a really bad turn." He stood in the hospital room "on edge," constantly checking the monitors, he said.

"I will remember this until the day I die," Grissom said, recalling a fellow nurse who came in and noticed his agitated state. "He said, 'you're going to drive yourself crazy and get burned out.'"

"He said, 'be ready to do exactly what needs to be done, make sure you know what needs to be done, but until that situation happens, you can't just sit there stressing about it.'"

Grissom said he's passed that piece of advice along to other nurses, and it's been an integral to preventing burnout. He also said being able to confide in loved ones and other nurses is important to burnout prevention.

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Working on Mission's "Hospital Acquired Pressure Injuries," or HAPI, committee, Grissom helps look at different, new practices in the medical field focused on prevention and how to implement them. He said one of the biggest improvements that can be made in the nursing field is "knowledge" and staying up to date on new medical practices in what he called "an ever-changing field."

Grissom said that on National Nurses Week, and every day, he has an "absolute appreciation" for his fellow nurses.

"It's an amazing field with so many opportunities, and as hard as the schooling is, it's only two years out of your life. ... We are always going to need nurses, no matter what."

Ryley Ober is the Public Safety Reporter for Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at rober@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter @ryleyober

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville diesel mechanic talks switch to Mission Hospital ICU nurse