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Tuesday, May 13
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 Lisa Reidenga |
Report Card for a Rookie
Originally published in Chicago Hospital News, May 2006
By Greg Nichols, RN
When Lisa Reidenga, RN, walked into my office five months ago for a job interview, I knew she’d make a great VITAS nurse. She looked professional, she was smiling—it was as if sunshine were beaming from her. And I thought to myself, “That’s how she’d walk through a patient’s door.”
Lisa graduated as an RN in ’93 from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She loved her clinical experience in oncology, so after graduation she returned to the unit for 10 years. What she liked about oncology is what she likes about hospice: you are with your patients long enough to make a difference.
It took a lot out of her; she had taken a break and was doing other kinds of nursing when she saw our ad in Nursing Spectrum. “I knew the flip side, the chemo, the radiation, the pain,” says Lisa. “Hospice sounded like something I would enjoy.”
She was assigned to my busiest nursing home and the staff love her—the director of nursing, the administrator, the patients, the families. Despite the demands of a husband and two children, Lisa volunteers to be on call every Friday night, which means she could be fixing a medication problem or attending a death at three in the morning. She attends patients’ memorial services and follows up with families after the death. She gives 100 percent consistently.
“There is such great teamwork here,” says Lisa. “My nurses’ aides are so in tune, they call and tell me what’s going on. The social worker comes in right behind me to deal with psychosocial issues, which makes my job so much easier. I love it; this is the best job I’ve ever had.
“We are there for the patient, but we spend so much time with the family. Yet in nursing homes, where some patients don’t have family, after I do blood pressures and deal with their meds, I sit and listen. It’s very rewarding. I have a patient’s obit on my refrigerator that mentioned my name! That’s like a report card for me!”
Lisa says she’s not interested in climbing the career ladder. “I like being with my patients. I’d like to get my hospice certification,” she says. “And working in the Joliet area, I’d love to learn Spanish for healthcare workers. But I have a really good feeling about this job. I’ll probably be a hospice nurse for the rest of my life.”
100 South Biscayne Blvd, Suite 1500 Miami, FL
33131 (305) 374-4143 |
