Jennifer Eldredge

Working as an admission nurse, I would meet with patients and their family to discuss the philosophy and services offered through a hospice program. I would evaluate the patient to find the best and most appropriate program that the patient would be eligible for while offering the most support for them. Once the patient was admitted, I would complete a very thorough initial assessment of the patient while addressing any health concerns or issues with the doctor. I would receive orders for appropriate equipment and medication to start addressing the concerns. If patients were not eligible for any programs, I would work with our social worker to help patients and their family find assistance and support. When working as a triage after-hours nurse, I provide a different type of care. This care was addressing more urgent or unmanaged symptoms that may arise in the evenings or through the middle of the night. I have experience as a phone triage nurse. In this capacity, I would do my best to help guide patients and/or their families in resolving any health concerns with which they would need assistance. As a phone triage nurse, I utilize the patient's chart with recent visit notes, current medication list, and test results to help resolve patient/family's concerns. If needed, I would also dispatch a field triage nurse to deal with the concern of the call, as well as any other pertinent information for better assistance in resolving the concerns. In addition, I also worked as a field triage nurse, and was often one of the nurses dispatched to a patient's home to provide hands on care. As a field triage nurse, I assist in many ways. The majority of our after hour call visit requests were for management of symptoms such as pain control or dyspnea. Triage visits also included hands-on skills such as foley catheter trouble shooting or placement needs. I helped with dressing changes, colostomy care, and occasionally IV fluid or antibiotic administration. As an after hours nurse, we often assess patients after falls to rule out injury. Our goal is to keep patients in the comfort of their own home and out of the ER or hospital. My favorite type of care which I helped provide was end of life comfort care. I often stayed with patient's family as their loved one passed on. This is usually a difficult time for families involving many mixed emotions. I love providing comfort and peace during this time, as well as assessing further needs for a chaplin or social worker. PRN Registered Nurse 09/2005 to 05/20