Spotlight: UMMC | MRC nurse liaison collaboration
Jennifer Burnell, a nurse liaison for Methodist Rehabilitation Center-MRC, said there is a moment in her day that always makes her work worthwhile.
"The highlight is walking into a paitent's room at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and saying, "I'm from Methodist." They are always so happy to see me."
Patients welcome Burnell's arrival because it means they're finally well enough to enter rehab and take the next step on the road to recovery. For UMMC staff-whose expert care makes the tranisition possible-its cause for celebration too. "They want the best for their patients," said Burnell. "And because of our reputation, we have lots of their therapists saying good things about us." "They advocate for patients to get aggressive rehab," said Deadre Thompson, another MRC nurse liaison who frequents the halls of UMMC. As they follow up on UMMC referrals, the two registered nurses spend much of their day in the hospital's hallways. Some might even mistake them for employees.
They're actually emissaries for a mission that is part of MRC's involvement in the UMMC Neuro Institute-"to provide an integrated and multidisciplinary approach to the tretament of neurological illness." In the neuroscience arena, their job is to identify and evaluate stroke, brain and spinal injury patients who might benefit from rehabillitation services. As the eyes and ears for the UMMC physicians who care for patients at MRC, they use their clinical judgement to help the physicians determine a patient's readiness for rehab.
They review lab results, progress notes and confer with the patient's caregivers. They also keep track of procedures the patients have undergone and provide MRC's admitting physicians with contact information for surgeons and other physicians involved in each case. They work with MRC admissions to obtain any required insurance approvals.
They're mainly focused on whether a patient will be able to tolerate three hours of therapy each weekday. But also relevant are factors such as the patient's willingness to embrace therapy and their post-rehab goals. To determine a patient's potential, the nurse liaisons confer with a variety of colleagues, including case managers, nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians and therapists. They find many will go to bat for patients who they believe will benefit from MRC's expertise. "Sometimes the therapists will send us videos of them working with patients for a good physical picture," Thompson said. "We're always communicating back and forth to see what's best for the patient," Burnell said. Whenever possible, Burnell said she also visits patients in person. "I try to lay my eyes on them and answer their questions one on one. A lot of times they'll say, I've been waiting on you."
UMMC and MRC partnership putting their patients first.