Nurse keeps O.R. on an even keel

Hinkle lauded as nurse of year

Frank Hinkle's job could be compared to that of an orchestra conductor.

If done right, it's a subtle job that outsiders to one of Kalispell Regional Medical Center's operating rooms wouldn't notice unless they were focusing on him.

It's seemingly effortless, with communication that's not quite telepathic - just eye contact or a few words.

One task easily segues to another.

"It's definitely an art," Hinkle said

"He anticipates everyone's needs," said Karen Lee, Kalispell Regional's director of surgical services.

Hinkle, 54, is a circulating nurse at the medical center.

He was chosen by his peers as the hospital's Operating Room Nurse of the Year for 2007.

Hinkle is one of Kalispell Regional's most trusted and versatile operating room nurses - with an extra touch that encourages a relaxed efficiency among others in the operating room while soothing the O.R.'s patients, his supervisors said.

Circulating nurses "are kind of like the parents in the room. … They take care of everyone's needs," said Margaret Ann Morris, charge nurse for Kalispell Regional's operating rooms.

"Frank is one of those nurses that the others in the hospital ask to take care of you or a member of your family," Lee said.

Both Hinkle and his wife, Mary, are nurses. They met on an oil exploration expedition in Nevada. He was on a dynamite crew; she was a surveyor.

She was in a helicopter crash near Las Vegas, escaping uninjured.

But the pilot had a head injury and a collapsed lung. Hinkle was a mile away.

He arrived and watched a helicopter rescue crew work on the pilot.

"It was my first real view of a team coming together to save a life - the caring, the compassion. I thought I'd like to be able to do that for people," Hinkle said.

Frank and Mary got married, had two kids and moved to the Flathead where her family - including her mother and grandmother who were nurses - lived. Both went to school at Flathead Valley Community College with Frank later graduating from Montana State University in 1985. Mary Hinkle is currently a psychiatric nurse.

Both Frank and Mary Hinkle joined the U.S. Army as nurses - he was on active duty and she was a reservist.

He became exposed to surgery in the Army and became an O.R. nurse.

"I just really enjoyed being in the O.R.," he said. "An O.R. is pretty fast-paced. You're going, going, going."

Leaving active duty in 1989, Frank Hinkle remained a reservist, eventually becoming a captain along with Mary.

During the first Gulf War, Frank Hinkle served for a few months in Europe, replacing nurses who went to the Middle East.

At Kalispell Regional, Hinkle became a circulating nurse.

Prior to an operation, he checks the surgeon's preference card on the exact instruments and materials that he or she wants.

Intravenous liquids are tagged. Scrub nurses lay out surgical instruments and other equipment, including checklists of sponges and other items to make sure nothing is left inside a patient. Hinkle frequently double-checks counts of discarded sponges with a scrub nurse during an operation.

He charts the operation as the others perform it.

With a shuffling walk caused by some bad knees, he wanders around the O.R., checking this and that, making sure everything works and is available when it should be.

"He just gets it done," Lee said.

Hinkle is also one of the hospital's most versatile O.R. nurses - cross-training and working regularly in gastro-intestinal surgery and same-day surgery, as a pre-admissions nurse and a recovery room nurse.

"He's always been very willing to do whatever is needed," said Beverly Dowling, manager of Kalispell Regional's endoscopy, recovery and same-day surgery operations.

Lee said: That's a real feat. … He's always been more than willing to stretch his wings. It's like: 'I'm here. Use me how you want.'"

Reporter John Stang may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com