People Power Pager: Luci Benson, RN, Senior Nurse Navigator
At Pager, the driving force behind everything we do is our employees. Team members are mission-driven and critically focused on what they can do to help individuals improve their health and make better decisions. Importantly, our nurses and care coordinators in the Pager Command Center are working with patients 24/7 to deliver meaningful, life-changing care.
In honor of Nurse Appreciation Month and Pager’s Command Center Appreciation Month, we’re spotlighting Senior Nurse Navigator Luci Benson, RN. Luci was nominated by her team as Pager Nurse of the Year for the amazing care she provides to patients and work she does with her team.
Can you tell me about yourself, and your role and what a typical day looks like for you?
My name is Luci Benson and I’m a Senior Nurse Navigator here at Pager. I've been a nurse for 27 years now. Nursing has changed a lot since I started, and I have had experience in a lot of sectors and settings, so I bring all of that with me to the telehealth experience. I've dealt with mental health, addictions, pregnancy, trauma units, and the emergency room, just to name a few.
I try to leverage all of that knowledge when I'm working with patients online so I can gauge where they're coming from and give them the best care I can. Treating people online is totally different than face-to-face, so you have to be able to convey what you would convey in person through text.
It can be a bit of a challenge because text is so fast. You have to get the information and get your point across very quickly without all the extra fillers. So you have to gather everything from the few complaints they’ve had or issues they mentioned, pair that with any other information you have about them or what you’ve discovered from the conversation, and then you put all of that together so people can be on their way.
Sometimes patients don't know what to do – they don't know if they should go to the hospital, or urgent care, or if they can stay home. So the nurse’s job is to assess each individual’s situation and walk them through it, to tell you if you should go to the hospital, or if it’s maybe something you could manage at home on your own. Sometimes things happen to people and it’s transient. You might have a pain, and then tomorrow it's gone, and then you wasted a lot of time and money going to urgent care when you really didn't have to. So the nurses can kind of assess it and say, "Give it time. If it's getting worse, then you go to the hospital."
But that saves a lot of time, and often a lot of money, and our job is really important for that, it really is.
“I have been a nurse for a long time. Years go by, seasons change, people evolve. But what doesn’t change is the need for compassion and understanding. Those basic needs are often overlooked. My purpose is to sprinkle a little of that back into a person’s life, so they can walk away feeling that they were cared for.”
What is the most important part of your job for you? What drives you and makes you excited to come to work?
I have been a nurse for a long time. Years go by, seasons change, people evolve. But what doesn't change is the need for compassion and understanding. Those basic needs are often overlooked. My purpose is to sprinkle a little of that back into a person’s life, so they can walk away feeling that they were cared for.
Beyond that, I've always loved interacting with people. I love inspiring people and making a difference. I like to make every experience personal – every time I enter a chat, I try to make that person feel comfortable. Digitally, it can feel like the world of the unknown, and you don't know who you're speaking to. I just want people to feel comfortable, because I know how it is to feel uncomfortable.
“Sometimes patients don’t know what to do – they don’t know if they should go to the hospital, or urgent care, or if they can stay home. So the nurse’s job is to assess each individual’s situation and walk them through it. That saves a lot of time and money, and our job is really important for that.”
What made you decide to make the switch from in-person care to virtual?
When I first found out about Pager, I was working in home care. A recruiter reached out to me, and it sounded like a different, exciting, new opportunity, so I decided to give it a try!
I joined Pager in 2017, and at the time Pager was offering doctor house calls, nurses were providing assessments, and virtual care looked very different. Virtual care as we deliver it today didn’t really kick off until around 2018, and that’s when my role started to look like what it does. It’s changed a lot over the years.
Are there any exciting projects or initiatives that you are currently working on?
I work on our Aftercare Program, which is designed to help fill in the gaps in care. We follow up with patients after an encounter to see if their issues have subsided, if they have any outstanding questions, and make sure their healthcare needs are being met.
A lot of people don't have primary care doctors now. Sometimes we see people with repeat issues come in, and that demonstrates a gap. We identify where they might need a little bit of additional assistance. If they need a doctor, we're able to look for doctors for them and make an appointment for them, just so that they can manage their health a little bit better.
In addition, this month is Nurses Month, so I’ve been working on putting together a presentation for our All Hands meeting to recognize our nurses. We shared nursing facts and information, because it can be hard for team members in other departments to understand all the ins and outs of what we do in the Command Center as nurses. Even recently, I’ve had some experiences while I was working that really honed in on our importance as nurses working virtually. Working in the Command Center at Pager is really important.
Thank you, Luci, for all that you do at Pager and the work you do in delivering personal, meaningful care to each patient you serve.
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