A Neuro ICU Nurse Greg Tipton NRSE 3400-904 July 2, 2011 Dr.

Judy McCook

INTERVIEW WITH AN RN

A Neuro ICU Nurse In June of 2011, I had the opportunity of interviewing Miss W, RN. As a 2008 graduate of a BSN program, she has been a nurse for the last three years. Miss W currently works full time as a Registered Nurse in the Neuro Intensive Care Unit of a regional academic healthcare system in the western United States, where she has been employed since November 2009. As an hourly employee, she typically works three 12-hour shifts per week, often switching between day and night shifts. As a Neuro ICU RN, Miss W serves primarily adult and elderly patients, but occasionally as young as thirteen. As part of Miss Ws work responsibilities in the Neuro critical care unit, she typically has two patients with various neurological issues such as aneurysm ruptures, strokes, head bleeds, tumors, Guillain-Barre syndrome, encephalitis, status epilepticus, or other traumatic brain injuries. She is responsible for such tasks as assessing her patients, distributing medications, monitoring drains, working with intracranial pressure monitors, draining cerebral spinal fluid via external ventrical drains and lumbar drains, and titrating vasopressors. Additionally, a large part of her responsibilities includes communicating effectively with various members of the entire medical team to advocate successfully for patients needs. Although her state license does not require any formal continuing education credits, Miss W does participate in annual education training as part of her unit. She says that throughout the year there are also training sessions whenever new equipment becomes available or if there are updates to charting procedures. Each month her unit also has a regular staff meeting to communicate additional information. To promote community health, Miss W and the other members of her unit provide stroke education for all of their patients with stroke risks, both hemorrhagic and ischemic. Included amongst the information are ways to reduce risk of stroke, information on various smoking

INTERVIEW WITH AN RN

cessation programs, and what signs and symptoms indicate the need to contact emergency services. Outside the clinical setting, her unit also sponsors a Traumatic Brain Injury 5K race to raise awareness and to advocate for prevention of brain injuries. Miss W told me that she knew from a young age that she wanted to have a career in the medical field. Her first exposure to nursing came via her mother, a camp nurse at the time Miss W attended grade school. Miss W says she used to love watching campers being sewed up in the ER and observing other aspects of tending the patients. In her opinion, a critical piece of advice for the new nursing student is to not be afraid to ask for help and to remember that as an RN one is part of a medical team. Miss W stresses that one is not required to know what to do by oneself in every situation, and that there will be times that one requires assistance to create the best outcome for the patient. And one more piece of advice she offers: You are there to advocate for your patients safety and although you may not know how to resolve a problem, trust your gut when you sense something is wrong and ask for help in finding out what is wrong and how to fix it. Miss W believes that the greatest challenge facing nurses today is that of high burn out rates. She reminds me that nursing is a physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding and draining profession. When asked for one change that she wishes she could make to the nursing field, Miss W says that she would like to change staffing ratios for both patient-to-nurse and ancillary-staff-to-patient. She points out that, in many places, nursing aides and additional staff (such as secretaries) have been drastically reduced or eliminated in the name of efficiency or fiduciary concerns, resulting in even more work and responsibility placed upon the shoulders of nurses.

INTERVIEW WITH AN RN

I thoroughly enjoyed my time discussing the nursing field with Miss W and learned that many of the concerns and experiences of local RNs that I know are similar across with industry. I continue to look forward to progressing further in the profession and gaining an even greater understanding of the field.