Hospital Creates New Position 

To Help Provide Patient Care

ROME - A graduation ceremony was held Friday, Nov. 16th, for Rome Memorial Hospital’s first class of patient care technicians (PCTs).

The program was developed to help ease the impact of a national nursing shortage, according to Connie Jastremski, MS, RN, assistant vice president/nursing.  “Faced with a national nursing shortage, hospitals are employing creative strategies to ensure that patients receive the care they need,” she said.  “One such strategy is to add more support staff, so registered nurses can concentrate their efforts on care that only an RN is licensed to do.”

PCTs are trained as nurse extenders to gather information and provide some treatment, under the supervision of a registered nurse.  Each PCT will be paired with a registered nurse, for continuity, Jastremski explained.  “Through these pairings, the patient care technician and the registered nurse will become partners in caring for their patients.”

They will be assigned to the Emergency Department, the 2 East Medical/Surgical Unit and 2 North Special Care Unit.  The new PCTs and the nurses who they will be assisting are Debra Linzy, PCT, and Carrie Marrello, RN; Cindy Wiggins, PCT, and Sandy Mahoney, RN; Deanna Lyness, PCT, and Kathy Savage, RN; Heather Jackson, PCT, and Lisa Staple, RN; and Susan Holmes, PCT, and Sue Zylinsky, RN.

“We have not been hit as hard by the nursing shortage as some hospitals,” Jastremski said. “We’ve increased our pay scales for nurses, and as a community hospital, we have a home-town atmosphere where people know each other. Some of our nurses have been here 20 and 30 years.”

But, it’s not easy, Jastremski admitted. “There are fewer people entering the healthcare field, just as the demand is increasing as a result of the aging Baby Boom population.”

“We’ve been able to maintain safe staffing levels by using agency staff, increasing the hours of part-time and per diem nurses, and overtime,” she said. “We have a dedicated team of professionals, who deserve recognition for their commitment.  With creativity, flexibility and a team spirit, we are trying to identify solutions.”

While they are pioneers as PCTs, the graduates are veterans of healthcare with a total of 75 years experience among them.  Following are their years of experience and years of employment at Rome Memorial Hospital:  Wiggins, 25 years experience, 20 at RMH; Holmes, 25 total, 11 at RMH; Linzy, 11 total, 4 at RMH; Lyness, 10 total, 5 at RMH; and the valedictorian, Jackson, 4 years total at RMH.