Theresa Bala RN-CRN

Post Anesthesia Care Unit

• Monitor and assess patients recovering from surgery
• Collaborating with Anesthesiologist’s and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist in meeting needs and safety of post-operative patients
• Assist with spinals, pain blocks. patient-controlled analgesia pumps (PCA), patient-controlled epidural analgesia pumps (PCEA)
• Titrating drips in coordination with art-lines in neuro, vascular and spinal surgeries
• Provided direct patient care, stabilized patients and determined next course of action
• Phase one and Phase two recoveries
• Managed care from admission to discharge

2011 to Present-Interventional Radiology Prep/Recovery Charge Nurse

• Evaluate difficult situations and provide conflict resolution among and between Physicians, staff, patients and their families
• Direct and facilitate work flow within department
• Daily staffing, nursing assignment and scheduling of employees
• Coordinate care for complex needs of patient's
• Resourcing Nurses and support staff

Radiology Nurse

• Prepping, recovering and discharging patients undergoing radiology procedures or test.
• Complete patient profile, assessments and reconcile medication list
• Assessing safety and emotional needs of patients requiring a test or procedure
• 1st responder to codes, contrast reactions and extravasations
• Obtaining orders from Physician for medications needed for radiology exams
• Meeting needs of Radiology modalities such as starting IV's, accessing ports, and evaluating patients experiencing distress
• Preceptor
• Administrating medications and monitoring patients during CT Coronaries, MRI Cardiac Stress test and Diamox studies
• Pre-Procedure Planning and Scheduling

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Sedation Nurse

• Assessing needs of patients receiving conscious sedation
• In guidance and collaboration with Physician, giving IV medications and monitoring patient's response
• Pre-procedure planning call

Interventional Radiology Nurse

• Trained procedural sedation Nurse
• Administrating conscious sedation and monitoring patient under guidance of Physician preforming Biopsies, Lumbar Puncture, Intrathecal Chemotherapy, Myelogram, Drain placement, Vertebroplasty, Thrombectomy, Thermal Ablations of Lung, Liver and Kidney tumors, Selective Internal Radiation Therapy, Angiograms with possible treatment
• Charge Nurse

1996-2011 Medical Critical Care Unit Charge Nurse

• Facilitate work flow with in department
• Daily nursing assignments
• Assessing staffing appropriate nurse to patient ratio.
• Collaborating with multi-specialty groups to provide evidence base care and outcome for critically ill patients and their families.

• Collaborated with physicians to quickly assess patients and deliver appropriate treatment while managing rapidly changing conditions.
• Operated critical care equipment to keep patients stable and promote recovery (Vents, Art-lines, Swans, epidurals)
• Titrating and administered medications to treat patients' symptoms and address underlying disease progression.
• Float to ICU's and PCU where critical staffing was needed

Post Anesthesia Care Unit

• Monitor and assess patients recovering from surgery
• Collaborating with Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist in meeting needs of post-operative patients
• Administering pain medications and documenting effectiveness
• Assist and assess patients receiving pain blocks, spinals, pain pumps and documenting effectiveness of such
• Preceptor to new Nurses
• Pre-Procedure Planning and Scheduling