National journal publishes St. Luke’s nurse

St. Luke’s Stroke Center nurse Debbie Summers, RN, MSN, FAHA, now ranks among clinicians published in national medical journals.

Summers served as the lead author of a paper detailing the role of nurses in the care of ischemic stroke patients, titled “Comprehensive Overview of Nursing and Interdisciplinary Care of the Acute Ischemic Stroke Patient. A Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association.”

Stroke Journal of the American Heart Association published the article online on May 28 and Stroke plans to publish the article in its August print edition.

“There’s very little nursing-based science evidence on stroke right now,” Summers said.

Summers serves as an advance practice nurse at St. Luke’s Brain and Stroke Institute, which serves more than 800 patients each year who are referred from surrounding hospitals.

Summers previously served as a neuroscience educator and worked in St. Luke’s Intensive Care Unit. In 1993 Summers started a stroke program with Marilyn Rymer, MD. She went on to help start the Bi-State Stroke Education Consortium with the American Heart Association. The stroke consortium provides continuing education courses about stroke issues for nurses.

Nurses play a role in the care of stroke patients from the time the patient arrives at the hospital to the patient’s discharge. Nurses participate in a team that includes a physical therapist, social worker and speech therapist. The nurse ensures every need is met, whether it is socially, spiritually or physically, Summers said.

The study Summers wrote about was proposed in February 2004 and took five years to complete.

As the lead author on the study, Summers modified the article after each peer review.

When it comes to dealing with stroke patients, Summers said that “time is brain.”

Summers serves as a 24/7 “Code Neuro” nurse, which means she works with an on-call stroke response team.

“Debbie’s passion for improving the care of stroke patients is evident in all of her actions and all of her work and everything she does,” said Judy James, State Health Alliance Director of the American Heart Association. “She really does have a passion to educate nurses.”

Stroke is the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of serious disability in the U.S., and ischemic stroke represents 87 percent of all kinds. Ischemic strokes are caused by blocked blood vessels to the brain.

Along with Summers’ work with the American Heart Association, she also participates as a member of the American Stroke Association and the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses.

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