Joanne Rainville
May 2023
Joanne
Rainville
,
RN
Critical Care
Trinity Health of New England, Saint Mary's Hospital
Waterbury
,
CT
United States

 

 

 

The Critical Care Unit can be a frightening experience for our patients.  Joanne’s approach is calm and quiet, and this provides comfort for her patients and their families.  
Joanne Rainville began her nursing career at St. Mary’s Hospital in 1991.  She has spent most of her nursing profession in the Critical Care arena, beginning first in the Intensive Care Unit.  

The hospital implemented many processes throughout the years in response to the ever changes in the healthcare delivery system. When the Intensive Care Unit and Coronary Care Unit combined into a Critical Care Unit and Cardiovascular Unit years ago, Joanne carried a positive approach throughout that transition and all future transitions of change.   

She approaches chaotic situations with patience, calmness, and focus.  I don’t believe there is anyone who can recall a time when Joanne ever expressed a negative comment.  This professionalism is demonstrated with everyone she interacts with – her patients, the physicians, and her colleagues.

The Critical Care Unit can be a frightening experience for our patients.  Joanne’s approach is calm and quiet, and this provides comfort for her patients and their families.  

She is viewed as an expert, which is also reassuring to the patients. It is rare to see Joanne sitting down since she is always at her patients’ bedside, providing care and prompt responsiveness to their needs.

Joanne has a wealth of critical care knowledge and functions in many different roles in the Critical Care Unit.  She cares for both the cardiac surgical patients and the medical-surgical critical care patients.  

She is an informal leader and will perform the functions of a charge nurse.  A role she is frequently called upon to perform is the role of a preceptor for new employees.  She has mentored more new nurses over her 30 plus years than anyone else in the critical care unit.   

Her orientees share that they feel supported and safe with Joanne, and her teaching approach provides them with the skills they will need.  She is a role model for them, so in theory Joanne impacts more patients than she cares for through the development of the new orientees into caring and compassionate critical care nurses.  

Joanne is an Extraordinary Nurse and deserves the DIASY Award.