SUBMITTED NEWS RELEASE
Renown Institute for Heart & Vascular Health announces the region’s first and only heart nurse navigator offering heart patients an experienced registered nurse dedicated to be an ongoing resource for them.
Renown first introduced Nurse Navigators nearly five years ago at its Institute for Cancer. The specialized nurses provide patients with a knowledgeable and supportive “go-to” person to help them move smoothly from diagnosis, through treatment and back to health.
The program was born from the philosophy that patients are understandably overwhelmed after a diagnosis and could benefit from support and guidance along the journey through the treatment phase.
It’s all about meeting a patient’s individual needs and making sure they don’t experience any unnecessary sleepless nights.
“A navigator is somebody with a first name, a phone number and a face, who gives patients personal, one-on-one time,” said Terry Thomas, RN, cardiovascular nurse navigator. “I’m honored to be that person.”
Thomas’ specialty is providing patient-focused care to heart surgery patients and patients with heart-related diagnoses. Renown performs more than 300 heart surgeries per year, and Thomas meets with each heart patient before and after surgery as well as throughout their recovery and survivorship.
“Heart surgery is a big deal,” Thomas said. “For me and for the medical professionals in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit, it’s something we deal with every day, but for patients, it’s not. The more information they have, the better they’re going to be able to deal with the stresses of heart surgery. The more information the family has, the better they’re going to deal with it, too.”
Her primary goal in coming to Renown, Thomas said, was to add to the quality of the heart program. One way she’s done this is by instituting consistency in the education heart patients receive.
“It used to be that whatever nurse was free would do the pre-op education,” Thomas said. “Now I do the pre-op and the post-op education, so I lend continuity to the message the patient is getting.”
Having a Heart Nurse Navigator has been a big help to Renown’s nurses.
“The nursing staff has been very accommodating to my role and embraced it,” Thomas said. “They’ve been wonderful and collaborative. I get lots of great feedback from the things I’ve instituted, and we work together as a team.”
Primarily based in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, Thomas also visits heart failure patients in Telemetry (where heart patients are monitored after procedures). She meets regularly with nurses, physicians, social workers, case managers and mid-level staff, and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at 982-2212.
“If you or a family member doesn’t quite understand a cardiac diagnosis or needs some one-on-one time,” she said, “I’m your resource to call.”
