At Baptist Health we know that we are interacting with people at difficult points in their lives. It’s a challenging environment, full of unexpected changes and rollercoasters of emotions.Here at Baptist Health, we want to support our people. Not just patients, but the fantastic employees that work to make a difference every single day.With that being said, we want to introduce you to Caitlyn Foiles, our cheerful RN II, CCRN.“I started at Baptist Health after RN school,” Caitlyn begins.
I started in the CVICU, which was a dream job for me. I’m super passionate about the heart and critically ill patients. I learned so much in my two years there. I started extra education opportunities as well. Then I went to Cath Lab, which was amazing because I still worked with hearts and I still worked with critically ill patients. The staff was also super great.
The staff and the work in the Cath Lab spurred Caitlyn to make a bold decision for her career: she went on to obtain her CCRN certification in addition to her work as an RN, with the full weight of Baptist’s encouragement behind her.
The CCRN is an extra thing. It’s an association of nurses and it’s a nationwide board certification, but when I got that, Baptist reimbursed me the cost of the test and I got a $1,000 bonus. The accreditation society says it’s a way to show patients and employers that you took the time and that you are a professional in your field.
Caitlyn has been working in the Cath Lab for some time now, and her ever-increasing passion for the subject has been fostered by Baptist Health all the while. Caitlyn describes her CL experience positively, and her (somewhat coincidental) love of the heart has been a constant in her professional life.
The heart is very complex, but, at the same time… I don’t want to say simple, but it’s as machine as they come. I love the mechanics part of it. I love working with heart failure and taking care of that problem. It’s very specific. You can train anyone to do it, of course, but the title of the Cardiac Nurse is a specialty. I don’t know why, but I love it! I love looking at the films we take in the Cath Lab. I love taking care of the patients. I really can’t imagine doing anything else.
And why should she? At Baptist Health, she has the ability to help the people of Arkansas with her care and our cutting-edge technology.
We use devices that work on the heart and even help with coronaries and help pump the blood, so when you’re in cardiogenic shock (which is one step further than a heart attack and your heart has stopped pumping), we’re able to say, ‘You know what, heart? Let’s take all the work off you.’ That patient, ten years ago, would have died; there was nothing, at that point, that we could do for you. With the technology here now, we’re able to save lives we couldn’t before.
The detail-oriented staff at Baptist Health is able to do their amazing work in part because of our impressive technology.
When people do come in with heart attacks, we are able to see the blockage in real time. Their EKG changes and that’s how we know they’re having a heart attack. In real time, we not only are able to see that blockage open, but we’re able to see the changes on their EKG. We know immediately that the problem is resolved. That is what is chillingly amazing about saving hearts.
“Chillingly amazing” certainly describes how it is to be a RN with Baptist Health. There’s an awe about coming into work knowing you’re about to help a multitude of people before the day’s end.Caitlyn shared a story about a patient close to her heart:
We had a young male patient come in. He sticks out to me because he looks like one of my coworker’s husbands. So, we get called in and we have 30 minutes to get there because it’s an emergency situation, and when we went into the ER and I opened the curtain to get into his room, I stopped dead in my tracks. I thought it was him. Obviously he wasn’t, but it was this young male who had so much life to live, and I knew that he would’ve died. There’s absolutely no doubt about it. If he did not come into the ER, he would not have woken up the next morning. To see him get full function back to his heart and be so grateful for life and for what we did, it was just . . . it makes me really appreciate what I do. As a nurse, as an employee, as a person.
