Profile: Diane Brauns
A Critical Care Nurse Works to Empower Patients
By Leslie Roman-Williams

Diane Brauns, RN, CCRN, CDE, is a Critical Care Unit nurse at Bon Secours Regional Medical Care Center and a graduate of J. Sargeant Reynolds School of Nursing. As a volunteer, she teaches diabetic management as part of the Bon Secours Richmond Care-A-Van mobile clinic services.

Diane Brauns is a recipient of the 2007 Sister Elizabeth Durney Award, which was “established to acknowledge those who consistently demonstrate the following characteristics: knowledge and awareness on issues related to care for the dying, good communication skills with patients and families, advocacy for dying persons, ability to work with an interdisciplinary team, flexibility and openness to new ideas, compassion, caring and sensitivity, and willingness to ‘go the extra mile’  in patient care.”

Brauns and her husband, Trev Crider, live in Mechanicsville.

They have three children, nine grandchildren, five “rescue dogs” and seven birds.

Diane Brauns believes her role in the profession of nursing encompasses a combination of education, enlightenment, and empathy.

“I’m a patient advocate. My job is getting people to understand,” says Brauns. “It’s empowering patients to understand that this is their disease process. This is your disease; do your homework, follow up. So many things have changed over the years. Practitioners will say, ‘It looks okay, your numbers look okay,’ without saying what the numbers are. If you go to the bank and want to cash a check and they say, ‘The numbers are okay,’ is that good enough to know? I want to help people be accountable and responsible for their own health.

“Someone can go from ‘I’m okay today’ to critically ill tomorrow and that’s very hard for someone to comprehend, because they were fine yesterday. You have to help them understand that they’re not fine now. That’s a wonderful thing about Bon Secours.

“We have pastoral care and they can help with that. I like to explain to patients what they have, where we are and what we do. The physicians will tell them about their diagnosis, but when they don’t really understand and have questions, nurses can help them be informed in a way that makes sense to them.

“Nursing,  known for care of the ill, was more of an art earlier. Nurses did not have the autonomy or the scope of practice that we now have. Now we seem to have so many considerations with patient care: more medicines, tests, practices and evolving standards of care. Evidence-based practice is changing those things we were taught. The art – the caring, compassionate, empathetic art – has often been lost or misplaced with thoughts of ‘I have too much else to do.’”

Brauns reflects, “How do we find time to get back to the art of nursing, the holistic care of those entrusted to us? Nurses can make a difference by remembering that although a patient may seem ‘okay,’ he or she is frightened, anxious, worried about their health.

“Kind words do not take special planning. It can be a comment on the day outside or about what they would be doing if they were not in the hospital, or what they would rather be doing. It is easing their mind when they say, ‘I hate to ask for help’ with a simple, ‘If you didn’t need help, you wouldn’t be here, and that is why I am here!’ It can help bring a sense of acceptance to a position that the patient doesn’t want to be in.”

Brauns adds, “Nursing is remembering to tell patients what you are doing…routine assessments are routine to us, but they may think, ‘What is wrong now?’

“Compassionate care can be just listening or a touch on the hand, a moment that says, ‘I am here for you.’ When a patient goes to a step down unit, instead of saying, ‘We’re sorry you’re leaving,’ we say, ‘We’re so happy you’re leaving; that’s great! You’re closer to the front door.’

“It can be as quick as reminding families who visit for most of the day that if they do not take care of themselves, they will not have anything left to give; that it is okay to leave and rest. And we, as nurses, have to follow that advice as well.”

Brauns comments that the age range of patients has shifted over the years, with critical care admissions of individuals as young as in their twenties or thirties. She urges patients to think about their end-of-life decisions, regardless of their age. “You can be called home any minute. Just because you’re 30, these things still need to be discussed with family.”

And as Brauns notes about critical care, despite all the lifesaving measures of ventilators and medications, “Everything is not fixable, except on television.”

Brauns says that her nursing career has brought her “all over the place. There are so many opportunities. I graduated at the age of 39. I’ve done med-surg, I did home health for five years.  That’s the wonderful thing about nursing.

“The facilities will help you find where you need to be.” She adds, “I had done a lot of things, worked in an orthodontist’s office for eight years and actually thought of being a hygienist. I took some business courses and worked in television production for three years. I just started writing down what I wanted to do – all of a sudden it was nursing. I waited tables, cleaned houses, did yard work, anything I could do to keep up this schedule, and finally got through school.” She was attracted to Bon Secours because, “I liked that it was faith-based and non-profit. I liked its structure and pastoral care.”

She is quick to praise her colleagues, including the “wonderful patient technicians,” comparing the critical care team to the parts of an automobile: “You may be the tires; the physician may be the driver…we all have to work together.”

“One great aspect of nursing is that there are unlimited opportunities. Hospital nursing isn’t for everybody, and nurses can move to areas like quality control, home health, insurance, education, and medical offices – so many choices for a lifetime career!”

Over the years, Brauns has developed a philosophy about schedules demanded of nurses. “The holidays are really about when you get together with your family… so Thanksgiving can be on a Saturday.

“Outside of nursing, I have a wide variety of interests that allow me to refill my spirit, activities that take away a lot of stresses I may come home with.” One of them is gardening, about which Brauns comments, “I’m going to be that one who dies digging in my garden” where, she says, “I pray for my patients, I pray for their families and for the staff. It renews my spirit. It gets me through a lot of things. It’s very good for me.” Other stress-relievers are working with stained glass and baking.

Misty Freeman, RN, administrative director of Cardiovascular Services at Memorial Regional Medical Center, says this of Brauns: “Diane will make cookies and bring in $500 or $600 herself in bake sales for the hospital. She and her husband had some old wood that they turned into birdhouses then sold for charity. She has this knack about her that I wish I had. She’s very passionate about everything she does…even something as simple as cooking.  Diane is the most caring and compassionate nurse I know.”