Gerry Rankin
October 2022
Gerry
Rankin
,
RN, BSN, CCRN
CSU
Jefferson Abington Health
Abington
,
PA
United States
Everyone who came in contact with Gerry felt his connection with making sure my mother received what she needed.
As a CNO of another hospital, I’m very aware of the inner workings of a hospital. However, one day, I became a family member of a critical patient. My mother complained of epigastric pain/nausea/vomiting. I decided to take her to the closest ED. She was triaged and immediately taken to the back with a diagnosis of a heart attack. She was subsequently admitted. As you can imagine, this was a scary moment for my mother as well as me. Being a Cardiac ICU RN myself, I was very familiar with all of the next steps related to a patient in my mother’s condition. The decision was made for her to have bypass surgery r/t triple vessel blockage.
I walked in on the morning of surgery and met Gerry who was my mother’s RN. He began to explain the process of surgery to both my mother and me, but there was an issue. My mother was still in extreme pain. Gerry began to advocate on my mother’s behalf related to the pain with the surgeon. Because of his advocacy and dedication to patient care, the surgery was subsequently put on hold until the cause of the pain was found. Gerry was my mother’s RN through the weekend. He made me and every family/friend that visited my mother feel like family. I would like to note with 2 visitors at a time, we had to rotate visits and everyone who came in contact with Gerry felt his connection with making sure my mother received what she needed.
Gerry made it easy for me to leave my mother. He was knowledgeable about her case, had a great relationship with the surgeon/cardiologist, and we very well respected by his peers. I was able to witness this as he was assigned to my mother the entire weekend. He also was a preceptor and I watched as he took his time to thoroughly explain the techniques for lab draws and the reasons why my mother was on various medications. He truly is a DAISY Nurse. He is the epitome of a Magnet RN and one that I would love to have caring for my mother. From one RN to another, I couldn’t thank him enough for easing my worries and being a true advocate for his patient, my mother.
I walked in on the morning of surgery and met Gerry who was my mother’s RN. He began to explain the process of surgery to both my mother and me, but there was an issue. My mother was still in extreme pain. Gerry began to advocate on my mother’s behalf related to the pain with the surgeon. Because of his advocacy and dedication to patient care, the surgery was subsequently put on hold until the cause of the pain was found. Gerry was my mother’s RN through the weekend. He made me and every family/friend that visited my mother feel like family. I would like to note with 2 visitors at a time, we had to rotate visits and everyone who came in contact with Gerry felt his connection with making sure my mother received what she needed.
Gerry made it easy for me to leave my mother. He was knowledgeable about her case, had a great relationship with the surgeon/cardiologist, and we very well respected by his peers. I was able to witness this as he was assigned to my mother the entire weekend. He also was a preceptor and I watched as he took his time to thoroughly explain the techniques for lab draws and the reasons why my mother was on various medications. He truly is a DAISY Nurse. He is the epitome of a Magnet RN and one that I would love to have caring for my mother. From one RN to another, I couldn’t thank him enough for easing my worries and being a true advocate for his patient, my mother.