Nurse practitioners play key role in heart transplant care
Children with failing hearts, especially those needing heart transplants, represent some of the sickest children treated at Children’s Memorial Hospital. These children and their families benefit from the compassionate care and specialty expertise of pediatric nurse practitioners in the Division of Cardiology.
Pediatric nurse practitioners wear many hats. They care for inpatients, see outpatients in clinics, prescribe medications, work in tandem with physicians to make diagnoses and help develop treatment plans.
Gina Jellen, Kerry Lazewski and Sherrie Rodgers work as a team in the Cardiology division’s Heart Failure and Heart Transplant Services section.
"I’m still seeing kids I treated as babies 14 years ago," says Rodgers. "I remember when some of them were so sick they could barely lift their heads, and now they are playing active sports."
One of the unique aspects of their work is taking calls about newly available hearts on the United Network of Organ Sharing list of available donor organs. The nurses assess all details, including the circumstances surrounding the donor’s death, and whether the heart is suitable for a particular child based on blood type and body size.
They review the data with Elfriede Pahl, MD, medical director of the Heart Transplant Program, and Carl L. Backer, MD, head of the Division of Cardiovascular-Thoracic Surgery, who make the final decision on the heart’s suitability.
If the heart is accepted, the nurse practitioners coordinate the transplant surgery and facilitate communication between the donor and recipient hospitals. Most poignantly, they are the ones who contact the patient family to let them know a heart is available for their child.
"It’s incredibly exciting, because these families are finally getting an answer to their prayers and you can feel their relief," says Jellen.
These nurses also educate parents before and after the transplant process, teaching them how to take their child’s vital signs and recognize signs of heart rejection. Parents must also learn about how and when to administer anti-rejection drugs and other medications to their child.
Lazewski says it’s not unusual for a child to require more than a dozen medications post-transplant. "We stress to the patients and families that a new heart is one of the greatest gifts one could ever receive, so you have to take good care of it," she says.
Rodgers says seeing the life-transforming impact of heart transplantation for a child inspires her and her colleagues. "This job is very satisfying," she says. "We’re fortunate to work with great patients and families as part of a great team at a wonderful hospital."
Nursing at Children’s Memorial is supported by the hospital’s Founders’ Board, Posy and John Krehbiel, Pete Krehbiel, the Prince Charitable Trust Scholar and Sabbatical Program, McCormick Foundation, and the Walden W. and Jean Young Shaw Foundation.
Last updated January 2009