She originally thought of becoming a psych nurse; however, Michelle O’Kain’s fascination with the human heart sent her into cardiac care.
“It seemed like the heart was the integral part of the body and it always fascinated me that there were medications that affected how the heart beats – or if there were disease processes, that it affected the heart or the heart affected them. It was always the centerpiece.”
O’Kain also thought she would be very good at it.
“I like the fact that they come sick and then we get them better,” she said. “I want to see that progression – it kind of gave a rewarding outlook on things.”
As a clinical nurse manager at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, O’Kain manages two areas that care for sick hearts that need to get well – Centralized Telemetry Monitoring (CTM) and CREU, the Cardiac Rapid Evaluation Unit.
“We’re going to figure out why your heart is sick and we’re going to figure out how do we make it better,” O’Kain said.
“And my job is to supervise those people who have such a high level of understanding of your sick heart, that I can corral them into, ‘Okay, what is the direction we need to do for each individual person along with the team, that’s going to make you better?’”
O’Kain manages registered nurses, monitor technicians and other staff. At CREU, O’Kain manages staff who are specially trained in EKG interpretation, IV medication management and personnel certified in Basic Life Support and Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support.
She began her career in nursing in 1983 by working for a couple of years at Central Medical Center for a couple of years.
“I learned a lot there; I also started taking a leadership role there, as charge nurse. And I said to myself, ‘I think I am ready,’” she said.
“Ready” meant ready for Barnes.
As a new nursing school graduate, O’Kain kept hearing that Barnes only took the best and the brightest nurses.
“They actually, because of my background, thought that I should start in an ICU. I said, ‘No, I’m not quite ready,’” she said. “I started out on a medicine floor and it was the whole body system.”
O’Kain soon started taking a leadership role there as well.
“I actually taught LPNs on how to start IVs. That’s when I started getting interested in cardiology,” O’Kain said. “I was teaching the nurses how to read cardiac rhythms, being charge nurse on the shift; becoming chemotherapy certified.”
She said there many opportunities to advance at Barnes.
“I started realizing that I was pretty good at leadership, so I started heading in that direction,” she said.
Her responsibilities include budgeting, patient outcomes and patient satisfaction scores. She has enjoyed 22 years at Barnes-Jewish, and O’Kain said the best part is the interaction with her employees, including what some would describe as her ability to read people.
“I like to figure out what their next move is going to be, but at the same time, the fact that they trust me … I don’t sugarcoat things; I don’t flower it up – I get to the meat of the matter.,” O’Kain said.
She also enjoys watching new nurses grow and develop.
“I love to see them just bud,” O’Kain said. “Being a leader and leading them to a direction that’s best for patients that’s for their overall well-being – being able to help them balance those two, every day it’s just a challenge.”
O’Kain, a St. Louisan and Rosati-Kain High School graduate, earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Saint Louis University, a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Psychology at Maryville and an MBA from Webster University.
Nursing careers run in O’Kain’s family. She said her mother was a longtime nurse at the St. Louis John Cochran VA hospital as well as the facility’s first black supervisor; and O’Kain’s sister is a neonatal intensive care nurse manager at a hospital in Houston.
“I like the fact that they come sick and then we get them better.” – Michelle O’Kain
