Hello everyone! My name is Amy Thompson. I am an RN for the last 24 years and just recently was informed at work that I “had to have by BSN” to have the job that I have had for more than 2 years….so here I am! I live with my husband Aaron, who is a paramedic, my oldest daughter, Ashtan 24, step daughter Makayla 11, and son Easton 6. We moved to the Wichita area 5, almost 6 years ago and just within the last year moved and bought a house in Mulvane. We love to go to Royals baseball games and to tailgate (we are going thru withdrawal right now!), fishing, kayaking, and all sorts of other things outside. We have 2 dogs, a puppy that is a 5 month old husky/lab mix and a 14 year old boston terrier/shih tzu mix that is currently in heart failure and has limited time. I have to say that I am struggling with this more than I thought I would! She has been by my side through a lot of things, so it’s only right that I am by her side in her final months of life. I hope everyone has a wonderful semester!
I am currently working in a Structural Heart Clinic where we are performing the TAVR, MitraClip, and Watchman procedures, so there is a lot of research that occurs with these. There has been research going on for more than a decade in order for these procedures to be able to be performed in the US and the research continues so that the procedures can continue to be enhanced and improved. One of the company’s that manufactures the TAVR valve just came out with their next generation valve that we utilized last week. It is truly an amazing process.
Welcome to the course, Amy! Yes, biomedical research is important for future development; how do you see nursing research drive the care of patients in your practice? How does nursing research support best practices for rapidly changing technology?
I actually see more patients being willing to have procedures completed and attempting to better their health due to not having to undergo open heart surgery. This is helping them to prolong their lives with less in-patient hospitalizations.
Hi Amy,
The structural heart clinic sounds like an interesting place to work. I’m a PACU Nurse and it is great when patients can opt for a minimally invasive procedures and not have to endure prolonged hospital stays.
It really is! What I enjoy most about it is that I get to see them prior to the replacement/repair and also after with the f/u appointments. At the post appointments we really get to see them improving dramatically. It’s a lot different than all the years I was working in the ED and not developing any kind of a relationship with the patients.