When the pandemic overwhelmed her 12-bed ICU, turning a unit that saw 10 patients a day into one managing 30 or more, Kristen Boettcher watched her staff struggle under the weight of it.
So, she did what nurses do: she found a way to help. The counseling program she helped co-create with a colleague for their team eventually expanded to healthcare workers across northern Colorado.
That was only the beginning.
“We were all in survival mode, and once the pandemic ended, we needed some time and space to process and decompress what we went through,” she says.
Now, nearly two decades after she first stepped into an ICU, Boettcher is completing her MSN through the i-LEAD in Nursing and Health Care Systems program at the University of Colorado Anschutz College of Nursing this August, deepening her leadership skills and expanding her vision for what nursing can look like beyond the bedside.
Boettcher works at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins as the nurse manager for the ICU and critical care outreach team, overseeing a staff of 55 people. She's held that role since the height of the pandemic, when a new leadership position collided with a crisis that forced her to rethink who she was caring for.
“This goes back to what it means to be a nurse: having compassion and being able to use initiatives to help our nurses and healthcare staff,” she says. “As nurses, we spend more time with families trying to educate them and teach them about what’s going on with their loved ones, but now I’m shifting that focus to caring for 55 staff and growing that team, and it’s been great.”
Growing as a Leader
When the pandemic ended, Boettcher wanted to expand her leadership skills. It’s why she came to CU Anschutz Nursing for her master’s degree.
“I chose the i-LEAD program because of its reputation,” she says. “I’ve had multiple colleagues go through the program, and they spoke very highly of it. It let me learn and grow while fitting with my work-life balance so I could work full-time in the program.”
The program has given her a new perspective on nursing, including something she hadn’t fully considered before: the power nurses have to shape policy.
“Our policy and politics class opened my eyes to see the need for bedside nurses to participate in committees or organizations to help influence policy development and change our healthcare system,” she says. “This is something we didn’t really have when I was an undergrad, and it was something I didn’t think about in my nursing practice until I was in the iLEAD program.”
The program has also taught her to receive (and give) feedback, seek advice from other nurses, and set herself up for continued success in leadership.
“I wanted more access to resources and more colleagues to tap into because sometimes that’s where you get your best ideas. Having that community of people to share not only ideas, but struggles, is helpful,” she says. “The program has really helped me grow as a person and become a better leader.”
