JAMES BITAKIS
Melrose Park,IL
Summary
Dedicated and compassionate Registered Nurse (RN) with progressive career history in direct patient care, and care coordination in fast-paced environment. Registered Nurse with 30 years experience in the Acute Care Hospital setting, with some Home Health and Long-Term care experience too. Strong expertise in handling complex medical issues in adults, providing patient education, and collaborating with healthcare providers to optimize patient care. Proven to remain calm under pressure and skillfully handle difficult patients and high-stress situations. Consistently developing strong relationships with patients and families through empathetic communication, respectful attitude and excellent customer service.
Overview
30
30
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
REGISTERED NURSE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS MEDICAL CENTER
03.1994 - 03.2024
- Managed complex medical issues on 4-5 patients per shift on a fast-paced Cardiac stepdown unit
- Took care of hundreds of Cardiac Cath, TAVR, NSTEMI, and Cardio-Thoracic patients
- Advocated for each patient’s care to the Physician, PT, OT, Care manager, Social Worker, Dietician, and rest of the ancillary hospital staff, in order to optimize patient outcomes by discharge
- Frequently was the charge nurse supervising 8-9 nurses, 3 nurse techs, and 3 tele techs per shift, & managed patient admissions & discharges & patient, family, and staff issues each shift
- Served as an advisor on the nursing informatics committee for the hospital’s Cerner EHR platform to streamline nursing charting, decreasing charting time and increasing direct nurse to patient time
- Assisted with training staff on the rollout of the hospital’s new EPIC EHR system
- Precepted new nurses and nursing students on a regular basis.
REGISTERED NURSE
NOVASTAFF
08.2000 - 05.2006
- Managed complex patient care for 4-10 patients per shift in various city and suburban acute care & long-term hospitals
- Assisted the Doctor in the Interventional radiology department giving conscious sedation and monitoring patient’s vitals during various diagnostic procedures.
REGISTERED NURSE
MERCY HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL
08.1997 - 07.2000
- Managed complex patient care for 4-10 patients per shift in a busy metro acute CARE HOSPITAL on various stepdown and medical-surgical units.
REGISTERED NURSE
STAFFBUILDERS HOME HEALTH
07.1996 - 08.1997
- Administered direct patient home visits to individuals recently discharged from the hospital
- Created plan of care for each patient
- Administered IV meds, changed complex dressings, & created education plans for the patient and family
- Communicated patient care with the Doctor, therapist, and other ancillary staff.
Education
Bachelor of Science in Nursing -
University of Illinois At Chicago
Chicago, ILAssociates Degree -
Wilbur Wright College
Chicago, ILHigh School Diploma -
Zion-Benton High School
Zion, ILSkills
- Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
- Patience, Empathy, and Caring for each of my patients and family members
- Strong knowledge of medication therapy, drug interactions, and side effects for hundreds of meds
- Attention to detail and accuracy in medication dispensing and record-keeping
- Ability to collaborate effectively with healthcare providers and other team members
- Experience with complex medical conditions, including Oncology patients
- Ventilator, Tracheostomy care (suctioning, changing inner cannulas & ties) Understanding in knowing the difference in alarms on the Ventilator and what each setting is for Understanding when to contact the Respiratory Therapist for supportive instruction concerning the Ventilator
- Extensive knowledge with IV’s and blood draws Started over 20,000 IV’s & blood draws Became an expert with hard sticks for both IV’s and blood draws Became the “go to” nurse for hard sticks throughout the unit
- Extensive experience with PICC & Midlines with drawing blood, infusions, and dressing changes
- Extensive experience with many types of IV pumps, Feeding pumps, PCA & Epidural machines
- Extensive experience with many complex wounds (vascular, burn, decubitus, surgical)
- Experience with urethral catheter placement and removal
- Experience with administering conscious sedation to patients in the Interventional Radiology & MRI dept
- Extensive experience with Telemetry/Cardiac rhythms & knowing how to recognize life-threatening rhythms
- Experience in care management and discharge planning for hundreds of various types of patients
- Experience with diverse types of ethnicities, languages, socioeconomic, and family situations
- Participating in continuing education on a regular basis of new technology, pumps, defibrillators, monitors, devices
- Experience in Home Health nursing visits & planning of care with the Doctor and healthcare providers
- Assigned as the Charge Nurse for the Cardiac Stepdown unit over 3000 times Responsible for patient admissions, discharges both in assigning them and making sure they were discharged in a timely manner to allow for new patients to arrive Also responsible for staffing the unit properly, and narcotic counts As the Charge nurse, I was also responsible for patient, family, and staff disputes
- Extensive experience patient education for self-administration of medications including diabetic, subcutaneous, and anti-coagulation meds the patient would be giving to themselves at home
- Extensive experience with Cerner, and now EPIC EHR systems Became an EPIC superuser
Certification
- ACLS
- BLS
Committees
Nursing Informatics Committee
Goals
- Learn about new types of nursing care that I have not experienced before, including care management roles.
- Learn about new technology and medical devises within the nursing practice.
Philosophy
My philosophy on nursing care is all about providing the best quality customer service to each patient and family member I that I encounter. Part of that customer service is providing empathy and compassion to increase patient satisfaction scores and best-case outcomes for patients and families in our Healthcare system.
Affiliations
- INA (Illinois Nurses Association)
Languages
English
Full Professional
Timeline
REGISTERED NURSE
NOVASTAFF
08.2000 - 05.2006
REGISTERED NURSE
MERCY HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL
08.1997 - 07.2000
REGISTERED NURSE
STAFFBUILDERS HOME HEALTH
07.1996 - 08.1997
REGISTERED NURSE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS MEDICAL CENTER
03.1994 - 03.2024
Bachelor of Science in Nursing -
University of Illinois At Chicago
Associates Degree -
Wilbur Wright College
High School Diploma -
Zion-Benton High School
- ACLS
- BLS
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