Joey D. Gursky, R.N.

• Served as a leader and liaison between hospital administration and nursing staff, in a highly progressive, advanced, therapy-based rehabilitation hospital, advocating for improvements that positively impacted patient care and satisfaction.

• Staff RN in busy emergency department. Utilized critical thinking skills to make quick decisions in high-pressure situations, prioritizing patient needs and addressing emergent issues promptly.

• Utilized critical thinking skills in a long term acute care hospital to make quick decisions in high-pressure situations, prioritizing patient needs and addressing emergent issues promptly.
• Monitored vital signs, lab results, and other indicators to detect changes in patients'' conditions, including managing vasoactive drips, vent and trach care, and a multitude of bedside procedures.
• Provided skilled, timely and level-headed emergency response to critically-ill patients.

Staff RN in a critical access hospital, which was more rural, so we saw all types of patients from tractor accidents, M.I.’s, strokes, to birth and delivery of babies.

Staff RN in busy 30-bed ER, which also had a 6-bed fast track area, for less critical patients. Took turns in various aspects of yhe job, including Triage RN, Charge RN, and code team, for which we responded to Code Blue or Rapid Response calls throughout the entire facility.

• Assessed and managed various patient treatments for numerous patient diagnoses from sepsis to acute respiratory distress, all of which had the overlying diagnosis of cancer. Also trained and coached new employees, serving as a preceptor, as well as Charge Nurse of the unit on occasion.

Worked as a traveling RN, delivering critical care in the emergence departments and intensive care units in Tulsa and surrounding areas where help was needed, which was crucial and busy during the height of Covid pandemic.

Circulator RN in a 6-suite OR facility, specializing in orthopedics, plastics, podiatry, ENT, urology, and general surgeries, encompassing all age ranges. My role included planning for and performing all nursing care for patients undergoing surgery and other invasive procedures, from assessment, to intraoperative care, and to outcome evaluation. Administered medications, tracked dosages and documented patient conditions. Served as an advocate to ensure patient safety during operative procedures. Provided teaching and support for patients and families.

Staff nurse in an extremely busy Level II Emergency Department, caring for a broad spectrum of patients, ranging from minor illness and accidents to life-threatening trauma. Required extensive knowledge of all body systems, organ functions, and laboratory values, as well as treatment modalities for various disease processes. Required expertise in multitasking, triage capabilities, and time management. Functioned as part of a team approach to patient care.

Staff nurse in a 10-bed unit of a cardiac catheterization lab. This was a smaller facility, so the nurse role entailed rotating days, functioning as pre-op, intra-op, and post-op nurse for the interventional patient. We prepared the patient for their procedure, as well as recovered the patient after the procedure, including removal of catheter and ensuring hemolysis of the insertion site. When functioning in the role of the cath lab circulator RN, focus remained on hemodynamic monitoring of patient, documentation, medication administration, and utilizing my critical care knowledge and ACLS to manage any emergent situations. Inserted balloon pumps, transported patients to another facility when necessary, and assisted physician with cardioversions at the bedside.

Staff/Charge nurse on a 20-bed surgical intensive care unit in a level II, 300-bed trauma facility. Perform assessment, hemodynamic monitoring, administration of various vasoactive drips, ventilator management, recover immediate post-operative coronary artery bypass graft patients, and familiar with pacemakers and intra-aortic balloon pumps. assist physician with insertion of central lines, arterial lines, swan-ganz catheters, ice/ventriculostomies, and chest tubes. Provide teaching and support for patients and families during crisis.

Staff nurse on a 26-bed surgical intensive care unit in a level II trauma teaching facility. Care for surgical patients in the immediate post-operative period, caring for every type of surgical patient from transplants, thoracotomy, vascular surgeries, neuro, and all general surgeries.

Staff/Charge nurse on a 20-bed surgical intensive care unit. Typically cared for 2 critically ill patients, as well as made assignments for all staff nurses, assisted with recovering CABG patients, and a wide variety of any and all types of Intensive care patients. Provided teaching, education, and inservice meetings to keep staff updated on equipment and protocols. Also served on 'Code Blue' team, and responded to any emergencies throughout the hospital. Assisted staff nurses throughout hospital with any difficult IV starts.

Traveling nurse with a nursing agency, worked in intensive care units, emergency departments, and recovery rooms throughout the greater Kansas City area. Job required much flexibility, self-reliance, and ability to quickly adapt to and learn a system with which I may not have been at all familiar with.