Can anyone tell me about the ICU nurse liaison position? Does your hospital have one?

Hey guys, so I'm in an english class right now. We have to write a paper interviewing someone in an area that is concerned with our major. I was lucky enough to have my dad pull some strings (he's a chaplain at forsyth medican center, in winston salem NC) and got me an interview with Marsh Cranfill, the ICU nurse liaison. She said at forsyth this was a new position (6 months to a year) and she, as well as the directors, worked together to create the position. But since she has spoken at national conferences, and the role is branching out to other hospitals (she wasn't the first ICU nurse liaison obviously, but according to the interview, she is helping to pioneer the position).

SO! In this paper I'm looking to expand on this role, providing more history and talking to hospitals and nurses about this role. Google has very little info, except that other countries are utilizing this role.

So if anyone could tell me a bit about their experience with this role, and also tell me places you know that utilize this role (if you know of any), that would be great!

Thanks guys
I'm an ICU nurse, and I've never heard of it. Sorry I can't help. but it sounds interesting.

Quote from JulieCVICURNI'm an ICU nurse, and I've never heard of it. Sorry I can't help. but it sounds interesting.

Sounds like a patient care manager that works primarily in the ICU... with a different name to make her feel warm and fuzzy.

We have hospice Liasion reps at my hospice facility they are assigned to specific hospitals and work with families, primary doctors, hospice drs and hospitalist to coordinate and begin services, but they also serve as an PR person so to speak and help develop strong relationships. My thinking for an ICU nurse with this position that possibly they get transfers from other facilities? so they serve in building those connections?

Quote from LegzRNSounds like a patient care manager that works primarily in the ICU... with a different name to make her feel warm and fuzzy.

Here in Melbourne, Australia it is a CNC role. they are a resource to the junior staff in ICU, assist in coordinating care. Attend all the MET and Code blue calls. They also review the step down patients on a daily basis until they are stable. Also they are a resource for the ward nurses if they are concerned about a patient and they are not getting a prompt response from the doctor. The ICU liaison will come up and see them, review their chart and the pt and if appropriate call one of the ICU registrars (senior doc). The guys that I work with are fantastic and they always say that they would rather a page and a 10min r/v rather than a 2 hour MET call or code blue. They are a wealth of information and are willing to share.

Sounds like a wonderful idea if you can get the funding for a stand alone position. During dayshift, usually we have a chaplain and the nurse manager/charge nurse perform those functions (i.e., someone's coding, everyone knows they are not going to survive but the family continues to demand "everything" for someone who's brain dead -- the chaplain and the nurse manager try to lead the family to see that nothing we do is going to prolong life, only prolong suffering). Or if someone upstairs isn't doing well, they can call a rapid response and and one of us goes....unless it's just something stupid above and beyond belief, we usually try to get them sent to us at least over night for monitoring. I think the kind of position you're talking about is something that a larger hospital could afford as opposed to a smaller hospital, but the need is there regardless. In a smaller hospital, we all just do parts of that job as we can. It's nothing for us to get a call from a friend upstairs that begins, "hey, let me run this by you...." Sometimes, we respond with a "I'd call the attending and see about getting some Lasix" or "I'd call the cardiologist" but sometimes it's a case of "call Dr. X and let's get them down here right now..."