Working two roles ‘makes this the best job in the world’
Pulse editor
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Cynthia Edwards is the office nurse for Thoracic Surgery Associates and works PRN on the short-stay surgical floor at WellStar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta.
“The combination makes this the best job in the world,” she said.
Photos by BARRY WILLIAMS / Special
Cynthia Edwards, an office nurse at Thoracic Surgery Associates, works PRN on the short-stay surgical floor at WellStar Kennestone Hospital.
Edwards listens to Ken LeBeu’s heart. ‘Health care is a constantly changing profession and part of my motivation to working PRN is to keep up with the latest technology,’ she said.
Edwards, RN, had always wanted to be a nurse, but waited until her three daughters were older before she attended nursing school.
“I took anatomy and physiology and aced it, so there I was in nursing school at age 40,” she said.
She became a licensed practical nurse (and later an RN) and worked on the respiratory floor at WellStar Kennestone.
“I had a lot of postsurgical patients with tracheotomies, ventilators and chest tubes, and I loved it,” she said. “The more tubes patients had, the more I wanted to be their nurse. Watching tubes disappear was visible progress to me and it seemed like real nursing.”
She found herself taking care of many of Dr. William Mayfield’s patients. Over time, the nurse and thoracic surgeon developed a good working relationship, and three years ago Edwards became the nurse for his practice.
“I triage phone calls, educate patients about their conditions, round with the doctors and help patients take care of their tubes after surgery,” she said. “Many of our patients have esophageal cancer.”
After awhile, Edwards missed the patient contact of bedside nursing and the camaraderie of working on a team, especially on surgeries.
“I asked Dr. Mayfield if he would mind if I worked PRN on the short-stay acute surgical care unit a few days a month,” Edwards said. “I wanted to work on that floor because I knew I’d be caring for our patients.
“He was so excited that he walked me over to the supervisor there and said, ‘My office nurse wants to work here and if you don’t hire her, you’re crazy.’ ”
The doctors have grown to rely on her as an added resource in the hospital, so Edwards works most Mondays and Thursdays (surgery days) in the unit. She loves that she can be with patients in the office when they are first diagnosed and also care for them on their first day of recovery from surgery.
“It’s really heartwarming when I come around the corner and they see me and their faces light up,” she said. “I feel so blessed to be able to do this.”
Edwards had been out of the hospital environment for only a year when she went back, but couldn’t believe the changes. There were advances in surgical techniques and the records system had gone paperless, with nurses charting on the computer.
“Health care is a constantly changing profession and part of my motivation to working PRN is to keep up with the latest technology,” she said. “It’s nice to get that extra paycheck and even nicer to keep my foot in the door of a changing specialty.
“I served as preceptor to a nursing student recently and it helped me stay spot-on with my skills so I could teach her the right way to do things. I have the most amazing job.”