A nurse education training session led by Tony Woodard, RN, 2011 Top 25 Nurse.
You put those all together with the
knowledge and experience of being a nurse
to understand patients’ needs.”
Nurses throughout the Scott & White
Healthcare system are attuned to patients’
emotional needs. Karri VanRossun, RN,
OCN, a nurse at the Glenda Tanner
Vasicek Cancer Treatment Center, recalls a
patient who came in for her first
chemotherapy treatment. The woman
began to cry, denied that she had cancer,
and headed for the door. “I put my arm
around her,” Miss VanRossun recalls, “and
we walked into the treatment room and sat
down. And before I did anything, we talked
about what was going on.” Miss VanRossun
talked with her patient for about 20
minutes, listened to her fears about such
things as losing her hair, and comforted her
until she was ready to begin her treatment.
Conduits for patients’ needs
Nurses are champions for their patients’
needs, and very often anticipate what those
might be because they know their patients
so well. Nurses also keep physicians
apprised of their patients’ progress. “Nurses
are patient advocates,” says Mrs. Long.
“They are the day-to-day caregivers of
hospitalized patients, so we must keep the
lines of communication open and ‘fluid’
between patients and doctors.”
“Nurses are important conduits
between patients and physicians. Being in
the hospital 24 hours a day, nurses are able
to report important patient information to
physicians promptly. This enhances the
care provided to patients,” says Stephen
Sibbitt, MD, chief medical officer at Scott
& White Memorial Hospital. He values
the collaboration with the nursing team to
help patients, too. “Within Scott & White,
we have a great model of dynamic
collaboration. Physicians seek nurses’ input
and their observations to develop
treatment plans.”
The partnership between nurses and
doctors, especially in a hospital, has been a
hallmark of medical care. “Nurses and
physicians have a very collegial relationship
at Scott & White. This increases the overall
quality of the care our patients receive,”
says Mrs. Long.
Other healthcare specialists, such as
radiologists, respiratory therapists, and
physical therapists, bring their expertise to
patients and often are part of a network of
communication that nurses coordinate.
Mrs. Hansen says, “Nurses have an
important role in coordinating all aspects
of care for our patients.”
Ongoing education for nurses
Nurses must keep pace with the rapid
technological and treatment advances in
medicine. As healthcare becomes more
computerized, nurses must know what
every number and every blip mean on
every monitor in the room, and they must
know how to respond when these signals
change. “Nursing care is very high tech,
and we’re dealing with even more critical
www.sw.org | Summer/Fall 11 THE CATALYST
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