5 East Inpatient Rehabilitation Team
May 2015
5 East Inpatient
Rehabilitation Team
,
RNs and more
5 East, Inpatient Rehabilitation Department
Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital
Hinsdale
,
IL
United States

 

 

 

The 5E Inpatient Rehab Department at Adventist LaGrange Memorial Hospital can be described in many ways. The most important way is our unit's strongest qualities: resilience, professionalism, engagement, and compassion.

The Inpatient Rehab nurses are resilient! The team has faced facility environmental challenges, director/leadership changes, and department relocation; but we have thrived! The rehab unit at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital had environmental challenges when assisting rehabilitation patients. As a team we worked together to make the environment safe for our patients. We may have lacked "glitz", but we made up for it in the care we gave to our patients. This year our rehabilitation unit was re-located to Adventist LaGrange Memorial Hospital. We moved as a team, no member was left behind. Not only did we embrace change when we relocated, but rose to the challenge. Our transition went smoothly with the collaboration of the rehab team.

The Inpatient Rehab nurses are professional! The Inpatient Rehabilitation Nursing Team has a very active Unit Based Governance; our nurses represent the unit in the PNP (Professional Nurse Practice Council), CPC (Clinical Nurse Practice Council), and Magnetology. Nurses from our department have piloted house-wide initiatives to better patient care. Inpatient Rehab was the pilot unit to use the Admission Checklist that would prompt the staff to gather all the equipment needed for the patient to be safe. Inpatient Rehab was the first to use the form and as a team revised the form to meet the patient and staff's needs. Nurses have also presented in the Magnetology Symposium. Staff nurses presented a Power Point presentation on reducing falls. During this presentation the staff described a reporting sheet that prompts the nurse to ask the patient's Morse Fall Score and if the patient uses the call light appropriately. This gives our team the patient's insight into their deficits. These factors would determine where the patient was placed on the unit. The implementation of this form reduced the number of falls on the rehabilitation unit. Inpatient Rehabilitation is below the Magnet mean for number of falls. The units fall initiatives were submitted for the Adventist Hinsdale Hospital Magnet document. This month we were designated a Magnet Unit!

The Inpatient Rehabilitation nurses of Amita Adventist LaGrange Memorial Hospital are committed to their nursing practice. 69% of the nurses are Certified Rehabilitation Nurses. Nurses are members of the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses, have attended the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses Conference, and are representatives on committees for the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses. Our nurses have been recognized by being nominated and receiving awards including but not limited to; Nurse of the Month, Employee of the Month, the DAISY Award, and most recently the nurse manager was recognized for a Distinguished Leadership award.

Patients comment on the care and the professionalism of each and every staff member. Patients regularly return to the unit to show the team the accomplishments they have made in our program. Recently the unit cared for a patient that is a photographer. The patient was so impressed by the team, that he donated two pictures to hang on the unit. Our patients complete the Press Ganey survey after discharge. Our patient satisfaction rate is 93%.

The Inpatient Rehabilitation Nurses have a professional working relationship with the physicians that refer to our unit. Our top referring physicians completed a survey. The survey results stated that the physicians would recommend our unit 100% of the time.

The Inpatient Rehab nurses are engaged! The rehab nursing team has received 7 out of the last 8 Gallup Employee Engagement awards with a score of 90% and above. Our beautiful unit here at LaGrange is a testament to our staff engagement and having our opinions heard by leadership. As a team, we collaborated on our equipment needs, design of the unit, materials to do our job, and processes to keep our focus on excellent patient care.

The Inpatient Rehab nurses are compassionate! The rehab staff cares for our team, our patients, and our community. One staff nurse on the unit is from Banate Iloilo, Philippines, her hometown was affected by a typhoon and the village lost everything. The staff rallied and donated items that were sent to the Philippines. Recently, another staff member's family lost everything in the tornado in Illinois. The rehab team donated household supplies so he could set up a new apartment. Every year at Christmas the rehab nurses adopt a child. The staff buys Christmas presents for a child whose family is having financial hardship.

This winter we had the privilege care for a young stroke patient. The stroke affected the patient's ability to care for himself and he was admitted to our rehabilitation unit. The patient was with us two weeks for medical care and therapy. This patient was so impressed by the care that he received that he gave all the nurses pearl bracelets with a note attached that read,

"You have been examples of what we try to live, 'Use the gifts you have been given to serve others faithfully'. You have done that and impacted our life. Life is full of grit and grime, and well; it is messy, life is messy. Each and every day the grit and grime is thrown at you, what you do with that, makes all the difference in the world. One of the reasons that I love pearls is for that reason. What a great example of an irritant that is turned into something beautiful. When you see these pearls remember where they come from. How something in the way, inconvenient and a real pain is turned into beauty."

The nurses were so grateful for this gift, a reminder how as caregivers we touch and make a difference in a person's life. It is because of these traits, we are able to deliver excellent outcomes, true to our MISSION, Extending the Healing Ministry of Christ!


5 East Inpatient Rehabilitation Team in the photo(l-r):

Kneeling: Marianila Sajor, US; Beth Gilmartin, PT.

Sitting: Angelique Maples, RN; Antoinette Ruskjer, RN; Carol Arroyo, RN.

Standing(front): Julie Dwyer, PT; Michelle Gentile, OT; Amanda Keizer, RN; Sonia Venzor PCT; Olga Jumic, RN; Sosamma Vayalil, PCT; Ethellyn Abellar, PCT; Maryamma Baby, RN; Catherine Solano, PCT; Elena Oprean, PCT; Barbara Burrows, RN; Fides O'Hara, RN.

Standing(back): Dr. Meghan Parkes; Joyce Vitagliano, RN; Tabetha Gallas, PCT; Jane Mitchell, RN; Lois Basit, RN; Maria Luisa Vergara, RN; Mary Pat Ward, RN; Susan Howes, RN; Kassie Gomez, PT.