WORKING NURSE: What is your nursing specialty or title and where do you work? 

AMNA MOHAMMED, RN, BSN, CNRN: I specialize in neuroscience nursing at the Neuroscience Clinics at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in downtown Phoenix. At the Neuroscience Clinics, we focus on patients with neurological disorders. In particular, we have multidisciplinary clinics for patients suffering from multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, neuropathy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (aka Lou Gehrig’s disease). We also provide infusion services for our multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis and neuropathy patients.

Please describe the format of the multidisciplinary clinics and the role of nursing in these clinics.

We often describe our clinics as one-stop shopping because in one three-hour visit, our patients are evaluated by a neurologist, physical, occupational and speech therapists, a respiratory therapist, dietitian, a social worker and a nurse. During this visit, depending on the clinic, the patients also have the opportunity to meet with representatives of the American Parkinson’s Disease Association, the ALS Association and the National MS Society.

As a nurse, my tasks include updating patient records, monitoring the patient’s vital signs, and performing pulmonary function tests and blood draws. After the patients have been discharged, I follow up on all the recommendations and orders that were made during the team conference. For example, if outpatient aquatic therapy is ordered for the patient, I do my best to arrange for the therapy near the patient’s home.
 
Tell us how you got into this specialty.

After finishing nursing school, I was hired into the neurosurgical ICU at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center. I worked in this area for two and a half years. When the position opened up in the neuroscience clinics, I decided to try it out. Working in the clinic requires a nurse to be very comfortable working independently with patients who have neurological disorders. Having a background in neurosurgical ICU nursing was really helpful. Once I started working in the clinic, studying for the neuroscience nursing certification exam (CNRN) greatly improved my understanding of the issues that our patients face every day.  
 
Why did you choose to work for Banner?

I have worked for Banner Health for almost four years. I was drawn to this organization because I was impressed by its application of the Planetree philosophy in its hospitals. The application of the Planetree Model in hospitals all over the United States has resulted in improved patient outcomes by providing an aesthetically pleasing environment, supporting patient dignity, and encouraging families to participate freely in the care of their loved ones.  

Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center has a wonderful healing garden that immediately made a positive impression on me. Also, the friendliness of the staff and the sense of teamwork in the neurosurgical ICU made the idea of working in such a fast-paced, critical environment fresh out of school a little less daunting!  

What does a typical day involve for you?

A typical day often involves balancing my time between performing infusions, participating in the multidisciplinary clinics, and doing some case management for our clinic patients. Patient care is always a top priority. When I am not directly dealing with patients, I spend my time working on various projects. The projects range anywhere from grant writing to research projects to process improvement projects to creating a clinic brochure. There is a lot of variety in this job and this keeps me motivated and excited about coming to work every day.  
 
What are your favorite aspects of the job?

We are constantly coming up with new and improved ways of providing care to our patients, which keeps the work very interesting and rewarding. Last summer, we launched our neuropathy clinic, and getting that clinic up and running was challenging and exciting.  

Our infusion patients come to the clinic on a monthly basis for their treatments. As a result, I get to know them very well and develop meaningful relationships with them. This is not only rewarding but also leads to good nursing care as I can often pick up on very subtle changes in their condition. I also enjoy educating patients on how to take their medications, when they need to call a physician, and tips on how to manage their diseases better.  

Any challenges or least favorite aspects of the job?

The most difficult part about this job is seeing our ALS patients slowly lose their functioning and eventually their lives to this horrible disease. There is no cure for ALS and seeing so many patients die from this disease is demoralizing. I deal with this by creating an awareness of this disease in the nursing community.  All our nursing students watch the video “Mind Games,” which is a short documentary about a surgeon’s experience with ALS.     

What advice would you give to a nurse looking to enter this field of nursing?

I would strongly recommend working on a neurosurgical unit for a year or two. Having confidence in your neurological assessments is very important because you will often be working independently in this setting. I also recommend brushing up on the anatomy and pathophysiology related to the central nervous system. Having a thorough understanding of the central nervous system is crucial when working with patients with such varying degrees of symptoms. No two of my MS patients present with the exact same symptoms.  
    I would advise nurses to take a look at the websites of the organizations mentioned in this article to familiarize themselves with some of the neurological disorders they will encounter.    

RESOURCES;

 American Association of Neuroscience Nursing  www.aann.org

ALS Association  www.alsa.org

National MS Society   www.nationalmssociety.org
 
Neuropathy Association  www.neuropathy.org

American Parkinson’s Disease Association   www.apda.org

www.Planetree.org