Abigail Billups

Assessed and managed complex symptoms such as fatigue, constipation, pain, dyspnea, nausea, vomiting, anxiety, and other distress sources to enhance patient comfort and quality of life.

Prescribe and manage pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic therapies for complex symptom symptom management.

Lead and participate in goals of care and advanced care planning with patients and families including discussions surrounding prognosis, code status, transition of care, and treatment preferences.

Coordinate care amongst the multidisciplinary team including physicians, nursing, social work, case management, pharmacy, hospice, chaplains, and other ancillary staff members.

Provide education for patient and families regarding symptom management, treatment options, disease progression, and supportive resources.

Develop treatment plans for patients based on their goals, quality of life, and evidence-based options.

Provide palliative consultations within the inpatient hospital setting and outpatient clinic settings.

Assist with the transition to end of life care and hospice services if this aligns with patient and family wishes.

Document comprehensive assessments, goals of care discussions, treatment plans, and advanced care planning in the electronic medical chart.

Serve as a resource to staff including nurses, residents, and other members of care team regarding palliative symptom management and advanced care planning.

Participate in case conferences, interdisciplinary meetings, palliative conferences, and quality-improvement initiatives.

Facilitate patient referrals to specialists and other providers.

Evaluated and assessed pre-operative patients on day of surgery and during pre-admission testing appointments to ensure readiness for surgical procedures.

Performed comprehensive physical examinations and documented patient medical histories to gather information and identify any health issues.

Provided direct care for patients undergoing surgical interventions across multiple specialties, including general, cardiac, gastroenterology, plastic surgery, podiatry, orthopedic, urology, interventional radiology, vascular, and ENT.

Collaborate directly with anesthesia and attending providers to improve patient outcomes and streamline safe care.

Reviewed lab work and diagnostic testing to facilitate pre-operative surgical clearance, ensuring compliance with safety standards.

Prevented complications by identifying areas of concern that could lead to surgical complications through careful examination and history taking.

Management for all day shift staff including completing scheduling, management of inpatient flow and on call staff.

Implemented evidence-based practices to improve clinical outcomes across the department for critical care patients.

Direct patient care with critical cardiac patients including coronary artery bypass, acute coronary syndrome, STEMIs, cardiac arrest, balloon pump therapy, hypothermia therapy, continuous renal replacement therapy, EKOS, Impella, AAA, femoral-popliteal bypass patients.

Provided training, professional development opportunities, supervision of new nurses and nursing students.

Conducted quality rounding, hourly rounding, and discharge planning to improve patient outcomes and satisfaction.

Member of the code and rapid response team.

Step down RN from July 2013-July 2014. Promoted to ICU and clinical lead nurse.

• 3.98 GPA