On and Off the Job, Patricia Vosta Shows Her Caring Spirit

She was one of those little kids who always knew with utter certainty what she wanted to be. She loved the smell of the doctor's office. Just the sight of a nurse made her day. And if any of her friends got hurt playing she would run to get the bandages.

"I guess I was born to be a nurse," says Patricia Vosta, 1999 recipient of the Robert C. Hanna Caregiver of the Year Award from the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System. Named for longtime hospital board member and community leader, Robert Hanna, the award is given each year to the person who exemplifies excellence in patient care.

For Vosta, a recovery room nurse who has worked as an RN at Memorial Hermann Southeast since 1988, receiving the award has been a humbling experience. "At first I thought they'd gotten the wrong person and they were going to find out I was really a fraud," laughs Vosta. "Then I thought how this really places a responsibility on you to live up to it. I think about it everyday. Whenever a situation comes up I ask myself what is the best way to respond. What is the best that I can do."

A steadfast advocate for her patients, Vosta believes they play a crucial role in their recovery. She tells them what they can expect from the surgery, what medications they will be receiving and how they should react to them so they can give her the feedback she needs. Post-surgery she is alert to their breathing and facial expression to provide proactive pain management. And she'll often follow patients' progress until the time they leave the hospital because, as Vosta puts it, "This job is not just about the recovery room, it's about the patient."

It's also about being part of a healing environment. Vosta has been known to help out on the nursing units if the floor nurses are having a particularly busy day.

Once considered so shy that her father wondered if she could make it in nursing, Vosta has distinguished herself as much for her leadership abilities as for her nursing skills. She's past president of the Houston Chapter of the National Association of Orthopedic Nursing. She's led hospital performance improvement teams. She's served on the planning committee for the Houston Area Arthritis Foundation Joint Walk. These days she's a member of the hospital bereavement committee, providing support to people who have lost loved ones. The group was started in Labor and Delivery to help parents who have lost babies because of miscarriage, stillbirth or medical complications.

It is an area that Vosta knows all too well. Her youngest child, Alexander, was born with Down Syndrome and a congenital heart defect in 1991. He died 10 months later after open heart surgery.

"I've been on the other end. I know the trauma of having a child who's not born perfect, going through surgery with that child and then losing them after a long illness. Support groups are cheaper than therapy and they work. I know if there's something going on in my life I want to surround myself with people who are going through the same thing."

A nurse since 1972 when she graduated with the first class of Houston Baptist University's nursing program, Vosta has found opportunities she never would have imagined. She spent 18 months in Hawaii working on an orthopedic unit, a job she applied for on an impulse after seeing an ad in the newspaper. Later she joined a group of nurses touring hospitals in China, through the People International Program, a citizen-to-citizen ambassador program started by Dwight D. Eisenhower to foster understanding among people of different countries.

"It seems like the older I get, the bolder I get," says Vosta. "I like to see new places, try new things. I don't want to be afraid of anything."

In a time where you hear so much about burn-out among nurses, Patricia Vosta still approaches nursing with the same passionate commitment she's always had. "There are days when I don't want to go home from work, and days when I can't wait to get there. I'll probably stay in patient care as long as I can push a stretcher."

- JOLYNN ROGERS

---

©2006 Texas Medical Center

---

E-Mail: tmcinfo@texmedctr.tmc.edu
URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/05_01_00/page_24.html