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Tuesday, May 13
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 Scott Venburnet
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Making Sure Patients Come First
Originally published in Chicago Hospital News, Nov. 2005
By Doug Irvin
Venburnet Scott, RN, is an admissions manager for VITAS Innovative Hospice Care® of Chicagoland Central who has not left patient care for a desk job. “I became manager in 2003, but I’m still out there meeting people—I don’t want to get away from patients and families,” she says.
She says she’s a patient advocate with nursing experience in geriatrics and psychiatrics, and with a bachelor’s degree in business management. As an admissions manager she combines all three to ensure that her admission nurses have adequate training as well as
support.
“I didn’t know about hospice when I joined VITAS in 2002,” she admits. “And I can’t believe how many patients and families still suffer every day without the care and support of hospice because of the myths and lack of education regarding hospice services. This is my biggest challenge, but I love trying to overcome that challenge by explaining hospice care to patients, families, social workers, physicians—anyone who will listen!”
As a manager it is Scott who solves the problems her admissions nurses come up against when they meet patients and families referred to VITAS. There is a standard admissions protocol at VITAS, but there’s really nothing standard about it. Every patient and family adds a new wrinkle, and Scott has a talent for finding creative ways to address the most challenging wrinkles.
“Sometimes I have to think outside the box,” she admits. “I say to myself, OK, what does this patient and family really need? And what can VITAS do to make it happen?
“Here’s an example: A patient in the inner city was a new referral to VITAS. He’d had no pain meds for three or four days because his son couldn’t afford them. I explained how we could help. I called his doctor, got him admitted and arranged for pain medication to be delivered in a few hours. If there’s a lot of distress, I get moving quickly. My staff knows that. I encourage my admissions nurses to move in a timely fashion. I want the patient and family to breathe a sigh of relief.”
Occasionally it is the family that becomes Scott’s challenge. She tells the story of visiting a hospital room with ten family members gathered around their dying mother and grandmother. Some were on board with hospice and some were not, but they were all arguing. Scott deviated from her usual hospice presentation to address the needs of this divided family, gently but firmly redirecting their individual concerns to focus on their reason for being there: their mother’s impending death and need for hospice support.
“If the patient and family aren’t satisfied, I can’t sleep,” she says. Many times she’ll call to follow up with a family—maybe ask if the Continuous Care staff has arrived or what time the medications were delivered—just to let them know that she’s thinking about them. Venburnet Scott may have stopped working as an admissions nurse, but she’s never stopped caring for patients and families.
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33131 (305) 374-4143 |
