Men In Nursing 2021

Men in Nursing 2021: Building the Super-Nurse

What superpowers should a nurse have?

By Aaron Severson Illustrations by Kyle McCulloughNovember 21, 2021

3 min read

We asked our Men in Nursing participants: What extraordinary powers should a Super-Nurse have? Here are their answers.

Alex Aguilar, RN, MSN, PHN, CEN, Adventist Health White Memorial

Endless energy (without having to fill up on caffeine!) and infinite patience.

Austin Aguilar, RN, BSN, Huntington Hospital

The ability to read patients’ thoughts to better understand and empathize with them. Being able to see what your patients think and feel would be extraordinary and could assist in optimizing their treatment.

Arturo Arriola, RN AHMC, Anaheim Regional Medical Center

A nurse with a secret identity that can do everything and anything: be a psychiatrist, an engineer, a motivational speaker, an expert problem-solver, a janitor, a chef, a shoulder to cry on, and a computer nerd. They would fix the problem, and people would never know it was them.

Erwin James Padolina Balingasa, RN, BSN, Centinela Hospital Medical Center

X-ray vision! I often wish I had X-ray vision so I could see if a patient has a pulmonary embolism, confirm endotracheal or nasogastric tube placement, or check for infiltrates in the lungs. Being able to see through things would help a nurse tremendously.

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Glenn Berdin, RN, BSN, Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital

Flying (who wouldn’t want to be on time for work all the time?), super-strength (being able to ergonomically reposition patients by yourself), and bilocation (the ability to be in two places at once and help two patients at a time).

Forte Don Buencamino, RN, MN, Methodist Hospital of Southern California

The ability to self-clone. If nurses could do that, there’d be no more nurse shortages.

Jose Luis Chavez, Jr., RN, DNP, ACCNS-AG, CCRN, AACC, Cedars-Sinai

The ability to slow down time, see the future and replicate themselves.

Jose Roman Chavez, RN, BSN, Adventist Health Glendale

Clairvoyance! The ability to anticipate patients’ needs before they have to ask would make for an amazing Super-Nurse.

Christopher Fernandez, RN, BSN, PHN, CCRN, Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital

The Vulcan mind meld from “Star Trek.” Being able to truly know and understand a patient’s thoughts and the rationales for their feelings and actions would provide invaluable insight.

Charles Holland, RN, BSN, PHN, CLNC, Valley Presbyterian Hospital

The ability to clone themselves to create an army of critical care nurses.

Joel S. Kim, RN, BSN, MHA, Kaiser Permanente South Bay Medical Center

An extra pair of hands! But not in a creepy way like a villain from the comic books.

Randy Lawrence, RN, MSN, PCCN, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center

The ability to duplicate himself so he could be in 10 different places at once.

Semanu Mawugbe, RN, Kaiser Permanente Panorama City Medical Center

The ability for the nurse superhero to stretch out their hands and make the patient’s anxiety and pain disappear immediately, never to come back!

Daniel McColeman, RN, BSN, CCRN Redlands Community Hospital

The ability to dictate all charting telekinetically. Being able to have notes and charting instantly transcribed would be a timesaver.

Freddie Medrano, RN, BSN, CCRN Arrowhead Regional Medical Center

The ability to see the future. This would allow the nurse to know what potential complications are coming up and treat them proactively.

Mike Pamintuan, RN, BSN Casa Colina Hospital and Centers for Healthcare

The ability to multitask 100 times more efficiently than regular human beings, plus a heroic-size bladder! They would be basically unstoppable.

For our annual , Working Nurse talked to 16 nurses at local hospitals about their career journeys, most inspiring patient encounters, and thoughts on superhero nurses. Here are their responses.

In this Article: Men in Nursing 2021