Nurses are thought of as compassionate care providers who are the eyes and ears of the physician. While this is certainly true, a nurse’s job description doesn’t end there.

Nurses seek to care for patients beyond the bedside in ways that often go unseen by patients and their families. Patient safety and comfort are two of the driving factors that lead nurses to seek new processes and best practices that ultimately transform the care delivered to patients.

In recognition of Nursing Excellence Week, May 6-12, here’s a look at 10 outstanding innovations in patient care that were implemented or achieved great results at Memorial in 2012, all of which Memorial nurses contributed to significantly. Read the rest of this entry »

Stephen Wilkin and Family

On April 2, Stephen Wilkin was feeling tired. It was a Monday, and after a weekend of family time and riding his motorcycle, he assumed he was coming down with a cold or the flu. He called his physician clinic, which ordered some blood work.

By the end of the day, Stephen was an inpatient on Memorial’s 2E Oncology unit.

“His physician’s office had called back, told him they thought he had leukemia and to get to Memorial Medical Center right away,” recalled Stephen’s daughter, Ashley Creasey. “My mom and I were both in shock.”

Stephen, 56 of Girard, assumed he was coming to MMC for more tests, but he was admitted that night. Read the rest of this entry »

Deb was named Mentor of the Year during 2012 Nursing Team Week.

Nursing can be a challenging yet equally rewarding career. This is especially true for nurses working in a psychiatric unit, where expressions of anger and aggression aimed at the nursing staff often are more common than words of appreciation.

Early in her career on the adult psychiatric unit at Memorial Medical Center, Deb Edmonson, BSN, RN-BC, discovered through a difficult patient’s experience that she had the patience and understanding for providing unconditional care and support to patients who needed her at their most vulnerable moments.

Michael was a 40-year-old gentleman, admitted for violent and aggressive behavior from a combination of a violent upbringing, previous drug and alcohol abuse, and dementia symptoms from a degenerative, incurable brain disease. He was also dealing with other complicating factors, including end-stage renal disease and congestive heart failure. Nobody else would take him. Read the rest of this entry »

Rhonda Roles, RN, Memorial Regional Cancer Center nurse navigator and Kathryn Peterson, Carlinville

Kathryn Peterson first started seeing flashing lights out of the corner of her eye last December. Several weeks later, a neighbor rushed her to the hospital in her hometown of Carlinville after the lights and pain in her head intensified.

The doctor first suspected a migraine. Until a Computed Tomography (CT) scan revealed a large mass in her brain.

“He turned white as a ghost,” Kathryn said. “I was in an ambulance on my way to Memorial in minutes.”

Estranged from her family and with few friends, Kathryn felt alone. But then she met nurse navigator Rhonda Roles, RN.

Rhonda’s role as the Memorial Regional Cancer Center’s nurse navigator is to ensure patients connect to resources they need. Read the rest of this entry »

Doug Gregory, RN, Nurse Manager, Regional Burn Center

Nursing is more than a profession. It’s a calling. A desire to help, care and serve those in a time of need. 

Each day, nurses make a difference in the lives of their patients. But most will tell you that sometimes, it’s the patient who leaves a lasting impact.

Doug Gregory, RN, nurse manager for Memorial’s Regional Burn Center, has been a nurse for eight years. Below, he recalls one of his first patients, whose personal story validated his career choice:

“When I was working at a children’s hospital in St. Louis, I met a 12-year-old boy named Kenny.  He had a congenital defect with his liver and it caused a big, protruding belly.

He had been on a transplant list, on which he was waiting for a very long time. So we got to know Kenny very well. The thing that stands out the most is how throughout all his hospitalizations, he just wanted to be a teenage boy and do teenage boy things.  Read the rest of this entry »

Mandy Lyons, RN, Memorial Medical Center, Intensive Care Unit

Many say that choosing a career in nursing is more like a calling. It takes a special person to be a great nurse, and each has a story from their early days as a new nurse that confirmed for them that they were indeed in the right profession.

Mandy Lyons, a registered nurse in Memorial’s 2C intensive care unit who began her career 11 years ago, recalls one of her first patients, who validated her career choice:

While a new grad working in the Emergency Department of another hospital, a young mother brought her limp 6-month-old boy to the triage unit. The baby looked lifeless, and I feared it was a grim situation.

I rushed the baby back to a room and yelled for a doctor. I could see how helpless that young mother felt as the ER team was working to revive the boy. The mother cried and prayed that her son would be OK. She looked worn down, her clothes had holes in them, her hair was matted, but her baby boy was perfectly clothed. I could tell she put her son before herself. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re in pain in the hospital, Kimmy Eldridge is one of the people you want to see.

Eldridge, a registered nurse, is one of 38 Pain Resource Champions at Memorial Medical Center who are available for inpatient pain consultations to the nursing staff around the clock. They include registered nurses, healthcare psychologists and physical therapists.

Pain Resource Champions assist a patient’s care team to identify the best medication regimen and therapies for a patient. They also work with patients’ family members to include them in the plan of care and to help them achieve a sense of control and ownership in the process. Read the rest of this entry »

At Memorial, our Nursing Team of more than 1,000 registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), nursing techs, certified nurse assistants (CNAs) and unit secretaries work together to provide every patient with high-quality, compassionate care while aiming to help them meet their health goals.

This week, Nursing Team Week, we salute our Nursing Team throughout our health system. The story below, originally published in 2009 in Memorial’s employee newsletter, is one example of how our team works together to help create great patient experiences along the entire continuum of care, including in the waning moments of life.

Doris Burke was ready to go home.

It was summertime in 2009. In and out of nursing homes and hospitals for seven straight months, the octogenarian from Chatham missed her flower garden and was tired of the restricted lifestyle she had acquired from problems related to heart failure. Read the rest of this entry »

Kelly Ford (center) stands with Memorial Medical Center cancer research nurses Holly Thomas, RN, OCN, and Karen Graber, RN, OCN.

In the late fall of 2009, Kelly Ford’s cancer journey began with an inexplicable pain in her rib.

After several doctor visits, an X-ray eventually  determined it was fractured, but how she injured the rib was a mystery to Kelly, a 40-something married mother of two from Springfield.

The puzzle pieces fell together in February 2010, when Kelly was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. By then, she was so weak from pain, she couldn’t get out of bed. Scans showed she had cancerous tumors in several spots throughout her skeletal structure; she also had a 4×6-centimeter tumor in her breast.

“I was in huge shock,” she said. “I remember just being really scared and confused.” Read the rest of this entry »

Could you hear us?

Memorial’s Wedeberg Conference Center erupted in cheers this morning as hundreds of employees gathered to hear firsthand that Memorial Medical Center has once again earned designation as a Magnet ® Hospital!

Magnet is the highest national recognition for nursing excellence as determined by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). The designation means that MMC demonstrates excellence in nursing practice and adheres to national standards for delivering patient care.

MMC is one of fewer than 390 hospitals nationwide to achieve the ANCC’s Magnet Recognition for Excellence in Nursing Services. Only an estimated 6 percent of the nation’s hospitals have achieved Magnet status. Memorial achieved initial Magnet designation in November 2006.

In the video below, watch as senior vice president and chief nursing officer Marsha Prater took the call announcing this exciting news —live, in front of a standing-room-only crowd.

We couldn’t be more proud of our nurses! What do you think of this news?