FionaRhea Rickford RN

• Adults in Custody (AIC) were assessed for medical issues and their need for detoxing from street drug use upon entering the jail. The triage nurse essentially determined the level and type of care these inmates received during their incarceration.
• Workied independently and collaboratively with NP , MD (on call), and other nurses on staff.
• Ran codes for drug and Fentanyl overdoses.
• Wound Care
• Dealt with any medical complaints an AIC submitted within a 24 hour window and made sure their needs were addressed. respectfully.
• Passed meds.
• Diabetic treatment.
• Frequent Street Drug detox assessments and being skilled at deciphering true symptoms from drug seeking behavior..
• Suicide watch and assessment upon intake..
• Determining which medical records out in the community where needed to ensure continuity of care while in custody. and requesting them in a timely fashion.
• Other nursing treatments and care for both medical and mental health issues.

• Provided exceptional direct Nursing Care for patients on a medical-surgical/Telemetry unit including medication administration, diabetic care, wound care, maintenance IV 's and IV medications (Including placing IV lines, when needed.).
• Utilized critical thinking skills to prioritize nursing care and interventions based on patients' acuity levels and individual needs.
• Monitored patient reactions after administering medications, treatments, IV therapies, and blood products and adjusted care plans based on patient's responses.
• Conducted thorough patient assessments to identify changes in condition, promptly notifying physicians and initiating appropriate interventions when necessary.
• Observed and documented patient factors such as diets, physical activity levels, and behaviors to understand their medical conditions and effectively modify treatment plans.
• Monitored patient condition by interpreting and tracking EKG readings, trends, identifying irregular telemetry readings and updating MD's and team members on changes in stability or acuity..
• Electronic documentation in Epic of treatments, medications and IVs administered, discharge instructions, and follow-up care.
• Performed End of Life care and compassionately kept family members abreast of patient's condition.
  Used first-hand knowledge and clinical expertise to advocate for patients.
• Enhanced patient satisfaction by providing compassionate, holistic nursing care that addressed physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.
• Participated in nursing competency development and nursing simulation activities.

• Greeted patients and took VS.
• Questioned patients and documented their physical symptoms to radiation treatment.
• Suggested or administered treatments for skin rashes, difficulty eating, adjusting to fatigue or other side effects of radiation treatment.
• Informed MD of my findings.
• Was present during female examinations.
• Had recurring contact with the patient during their several weeks of treatment and became a trusted medical professional who showed empathy and an understanding for the life-changing diagnosis and treatment that they were undergoing which represented the hospital in good stead.
• Worked with the Discharge Planner/Social services to coordinate care to and from treatment (i.e if transportation was needed) and for follow-up care when treatment was completed.
• Attended weekly Cancer Rounds which included the Medical and Surgical Cancer treatment MD teams. in additional to the radiological MD's.

• Managed care from admission to hospice until patient's death.
• Involved patient's family in their care.
• Observed level of care given and demonstrated proper nursing care to the caregivers which was optimal for the terminally ill patient.
• Implemented comfort measures as often as possible. and notified MD of changes in pt's condition that warranted new therapies or comfort measures.
• Provided compassionate, holistic nursing care that addressed physical, emotional, and spiritual needs for the patient and their family members.
• Unfortunately, I had my own "brush with death" with a tumble down the stairs and re-injured my knee, which prevented me from continuing with this job.

• Explained Vaccinations and possible side effects to patients in easy-to-understand terms and obtained consent to administer.
• Drew up and administered Covid, Flu, Shingles, and other vaccines to adults and children and monitored for any immediate reactions.
• Submitted paperwork for the State records so vaccines administered can be properly tracked.
• This was a very short term Federally funded program to get the populace vaccinated and Covid boosted.

• Managed health care for school aged children attending summer school.
• Administered scheduled medications.
• Attended to sick or injured children.
• Documented contact with individual students in their electronic chart, or on paper.
• Provided education and training to adult staff as needed for blood borne illnesses, epi-pen use and as needed on various medical conditions.
• Provided supervision to health care assistants at the various schools under my supervision.
• Organized and disinfected health offices or areas, removed out-dated meds, packaged medications for field trips. Made sure meds were returned to family members on the last day of school.
• This is essentially similar to the many camp nurse positions I held at Outdoor School and at summer camps.

• Hired to do Infection Prevention (during active Covid outbreak) as well as work on the floor doing wound treatments, medication passes and nursing assessments.
• Notify NP and medical practitioners of changes in patient;s medical condition.
• Reorder medications as old stock ran out and make sure new medications arrived on time for patient therapy;
• After receiving no access to the electronic medication dispensing machine, and no orientation, I was simply handed keys to the med cart and told that I had to double the work load because the other med nurse called in sick, I felt very under-prepared to do a job that should be relatively simple for an RN. I fell decidedly behind and many meds were not accessible and thus not administered. This did not sit well with me and has ended any desire to work in a nursing home~!
• After showing up two times as the only nurse for 60 patients, while the psych nurse, by law, only had 10 patients, this job was clearly not going to work!

Consulted in the Emergency Department on Infection Control techniques and procedures, electronic staffing assignments, and layout and design of the department for better work-flow and safety. First conducted a survey to establish the needs of the department. Then wrote up my suggestions and lastly, designed and had made various pieces of furniture and modifications to the unit to accomplish this goal.

Comprehensive nursing care of patients on telemetry undergoing MI's, open heart surgery, heart transplants, cardiac compromise, CHF, COPD, cardioversions, arrhythmias, cardiac codes, pacemaker implants, and patients with any other medical or surgical diagnosis with
an underlying cardiac component. This was a very high paced, highly technical area of
nursing work which I enjoyed tremendously. I felt privileged to be able to give care to
patients undergoing such traumatic events in their life, and believe I was able to give hope, comfort, and inspiration to them

ER and Med-Surg at the notorious Bellevue hospital in NYC. That ER saw up to 900 patients a day and had 5 sub units - adult, psych, peds, walk-in clinic and its own ICU.

OR and ICU in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Still remember when art lines were a "new thing.")

Tropical Diseases in London, England.
Anthroprosophic hospital and retirement center in Germany based on the concepts of Rudolf Steiner and natural healing and pro-biotic healthy whole food eating.

In Oregon, worked in NICU at Emmanuel for 1 year prior to taking a sojourn around the world for 9 months with our newborn daughter. Worked in a family practice clinic, Reed College clinic, and Tillamook County Health Dept.

Worked adult med-surg at Holliday Park (before it became a psych hospital). Adolescent and adult psych in smaller facilities. Post partum at Woodland Park (before that became Vibra). And various agency positions at various nursing homes around Portland and Milwaukie.

Also did outdoor school nurse at Multnomah Education Service District and various other camp nurse jobs at the Oregon coast and in NY state.

It's been a delightfully varied career as an RN that allowed me to prioritize my children's needs and schedules as a single parent.