Nurses Week Spotlight: Linda Wise

Linda Wise is a senior staff nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit. She’s part of a team who transports sick infants by helicopter, plane or ambulance from other hospitals to CHOG and is also the coordinator for the neonatal ECMO program.

ECMO stands for “extracorporeal membrane oxygenation” and is a type of heart and lung support (similar to what is used in open-heart surgery) that allows patients’ lungs and/or heart to rest and heal. It uses an artificial oxygenator and a pump to move blood outside the body, oxygenate it and return it to the patient. It is very labor- and mentally intensive and requires the ECMO specialist to stay at the pump at the patient’s bedside at all times.

“Linda Wise advances the power of our patients by role modeling collegiality and the use of evidence-based care. She leads our Neonatal ECMO team, who has received the ELSO Excellence Award for ECMO performance for the past 7 years. ELSO is the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization.”

The Nursing Specialty Awards are given each year during Nurses Week based on nominations. For a list of nominees, click here.