Story and photo by James Coburn, Staff Writer
The cardiac ICU at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health has always been a passion and first love for Rachel Eudey, RN, a clinical education specialist. As a clinical education specialist, Eudey teaches the nurses in her unit how to be a cardiac pediatric ICU nurse.
Nurses will be learning through their entire career because technology evolves all the time. She focuses on resource making, video producing and facilitating.
“We’re in the process right now of getting our pediatric heart transplant program off the ground,” Eudey said. “It’s huge for the state of Oklahoma and for these patients and their families. (story continued below)
OU Health Recruitment Event – Wednesday, Aug. 30th 4 – 7 p.m.
Adults across the US get more transplants because the availability of those organs is much more common. The transplant program will make it easier on families by preventing them from traveling out of Oklahoma for services.
“That’s incredibly difficult for families because they are leaving their support systems and leaving their normal physician teams that have been following these patients for a long time,” she said.
Oklahoma Children’s Hospital’s transplant cardiologist arrived in 2021. Eudey assists him in teaching classes on the subject.
Eudey has earned several nursing degrees beginning with her Associate in Nursing degree from OSU/OKC and then her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Southwestern State University. In June she graduated with her Master of Science in Nursing Education degree from Western Governors University in Salt Lake City, Utah. She became a nurse in 2014 and came to Oklahoma Children’s Hospital in 2014. So, she has always been immersed in pediatric critical care.
“Probably the biggest part of what I do here at the hospital is onboarding new graduate nurses. We do have a pretty robust nursing program here at the hospital,” Eudey said.
Her unit onboards 10-15 nurses a year. She also works closely with the other pediatric educators. Oklahoma Children’s Hospital onboards 100-125 nurses a year. As they advance through their orientation process, Eudey will break off for the ICU nurse education. Education for tenured nurses is also on her agenda.
“I do a lot of continuing education. I make a lot of educational resources. I also occasionally make resources for the whole hospital and share that with different groups that I’m a part of,” she continued.
When practices were updated this year, she collaborated by producing a video with voice-overs and editing on how to provide sterile central line dressing changes and sterile catheter changes that were distributed throughout the whole hospital.
New technology alters practices at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital. Education for nurses include updated ventricular assist devices, coordinating and planning. Eudey is at the front-end of changes by making sure the nurses are prepared for the challenges. The hospital focuses on competency for nurses working in specialized areas.
Eudey provides resources for certifications. She recently created a resource for being a certified pediatric care nurse by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. Another common certification is for critical care nurses. Nurses are enthusiastic about moving forward in their careers. They also receive a monetary bonus after they have earned a national certification.
“So, it’s a good incentive for staff to be able to get those as well,” Eudey said.
Students in nursing school barely get any pediatric education, she said. Usually, a couple of weeks is spent covering obstetrics and babies, she added. And the little bit that nursing school teaches about pediatrics seldom includes pediatric children, Eudey explained.
“Nurses that come in to work in either the pediatric ICU or the pediatric critical care or the cardiovascular ICU are at a disadvantage because they don’t receive any education about that.”
Oklahoma Children’s Hospital mitigates that by giving recent graduates a robust education and orientation process. The pediatric ICU has a 20-week orientation process.
“It’s always a constant learning process,” Eudey said.
Self-discipline is imperative to grasp the range of knowledge and learning.
“Being with their preceptor and actually caring for these patients in the unit also helps,” she said.
Eudey said it makes her happy knowing she influences new nurses beginning their careers at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital.
“When I was still at the bedside I precepted a lot. I was always very enriched by that,” she said. “There’s something very endearing and satisfying about knowing I’m helping to shape this future nurse who is going to become my coworker. …It’s basically humbling to know you are creating this nurse who is going to be looking up to you and learning from you.”
For more informations about Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health, visit
https://www.ouhealth.com/careers/.
