NURSING

Case managers and social workers are embedded throughout the Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital. Staff members in this interdisciplinary care team help patients with insurance needs, to get connected with resources, to navigate the health care system, and to find solutions to social and medical needs.

Transition Support

Eskenazi Health has a robust discharge planning team consisting of highly skilled RN case managers, medical social workers, pre-certification nurses, pre-certification technicians and transitional planners with the singular focus to navigate patients through the continuum of health care. Team members work alongside physician, nursing, and rehabilitation partners to help patients navigate complicated financial and social limitations during hospitalizations. Staff also works with the patient’s families and outpatient care teams to ensure a smooth transition to the next level of care, be that a rehabilitation facility or home. The Transition Support team efficiently assists patients to the correct level of care including resolving financial and other social barriers though innovation and connecting needed resources while educating patients to ensure success with care plans. 

Intensive Care Management

Nurse case managers and medical social workers meet patients where they are in the community. Staff members in this interdisciplinary care team work together to help patients navigate the health care system; connect to health insurance, other funding sources and community resources such as food and housing; and find solutions to their identified social and medical needs in order to stay healthy at home. This is accomplished by advocacy, care coordination, disease and medication education, and skill building to increase independence. 

Connections

The Connections team serves the Eskenazi Health network 24/7 as the frontline staff answering calls for all the outpatient networks including, but not limited to, primary care and specialty care clinical areas. This telephone access provides patients an access point to their providers and 24/7 availability to receive a triage assessment and recommendations by a skilled nurse on the Connections team. Connections nurses also support Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital as facilitator of critical workflows of hospital activations for STEMIs, strokes and IR cases and as point of contact for outside requests to transfer patients to Eskenazi Hospital for care. The collaborative workflows between call center staff and the provider network support our patients in navigating the outpatient spaces within the larger Eskenazi Health network. 

Eskenazi Health Central Staffing is a large department that comprises all the PRN nurses and care techs across the organization and services all clinical areas of Eskenazi Health. PRN team members can choose to be in one of the below commitment categories as a PRN team member. The commitment is for 18-week periods at which point team members may choose to stay in their tier for 18 more weeks or change tiers.

• Tier 1 – 12 hours/pay period
• Tier 2 – 24 hours/pay period
• Tier 3 – 48 hours/pay period
• Tier 4 – 72 hours/pay period (non-benefitted, full time – open to existing Central Staffing team members only with manager approval)

Eskenazi Health Critical Care within the Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital encompasses the Intermediate Intensive Care, Trauma/Surgical Intensive Care and Pulmonary/Medical Intensive Care units. Critical Care is dedicated to the comprehensive management of patients having, or at risk of developing, acute life-threatening illness or injury. Nurse-to-patient ratios in the IICU are 1:3 and in the MICU/SICU are 1:2.

Throughout the 72 private rooms staff members care for challenging and complex patients, along with their families, during what is often an unexpected and tragic event. These events include:

• Respiratory failure
• Cardiac arrest
• Sepsis
• Trauma
• Head injuries
• Overdose
• Renal failure
• GI bleed
• Surgical recovery
• Stroke
• End of life

The Critical Care nurse works with a skilled team that includes physicians, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, physical and occupational therapists, social workers, spiritual care, and many others to deliver evidence-based care.

The Michael & Susan Smith Emergency Department at Eskenazi Health is the one of the largest and busiest emergency departments in the state of Indiana. They evaluate and treat over 100,000 patients per year. That's about 300 patients per day. The emergency department consists of 110 private rooms, five resuscitation/shock rooms and a 16-bed clinical decision unit. The unit is staffed by 170 registered nurses, 50 care technicians who are nursing students and patient navigators. It can be a dynamic and exciting environment requiring quick decision-making and excellent problem-solving skills.

Center of Hope

The Eskenazi Health Center of Hope specializes in forensic nursing for victims of sexual assault and interpersonal family violence. The specialty provides comprehensive care to victims of violence both in the Michael & Susan Smith Emergency Department and with wraparound services. Nurses in this department obtain specialized training and certifications in forensic nursing known as SANE (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) Certification.

Clinical Decision Unit

The Eskenazi Health Clinical Decision Unit is a specialized unit that provides short-term observation and treatment for patients who require further treatment past their emergency department visit. The unit is designed to improve patient flow, reduce unnecessary admissions, and enhance the quality of care for patients. Sixteen beds are staffed by four nurses and a care tech. The patients are cared for by nurse practitioners, and the team works collaboratively to evaluate patients, order and interpret diagnostic tests, and make treatment decisions.

Stroke Center

In 2017 the Eskenazi Health Stroke Center was certified by The Joint Commission as an Advanced Primary Stroke Center. In 2024, it was recognized for the fifth consecutive year by the American Heart Association with the Get with the Guidelines - Stroke Gold Plus with Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll. This is also the first time the stroke department has been awarded elite status for the Target: Stroke Honor Roll. Nurses working with stroke patients have taken additional training in National Institute of Health (NIH) tools and protocols that outline best practices for all types of strokes and stroke patients, so they are prepared to offer the best care to every Eskenazi Health stroke patient.  

Eskenazi Health Endoscopy is a dedicated area where medical procedures are performed with endoscopes. Team members provide expert service and care for all patients requiring screening scopes and many other related diagnostic procedures to screen for conditions and diagnose diseases.

Some of the services provided:

• Diagnostic and screening colonoscopies
• Esophagogastroduodenoscopies (EGDs)
• PEG tube placement
• Video capsule/Bravo endoscopy
• Stent placement
• Dilation (colonic and ESPI)
• Gastric outlet
• Sigmoidoscopies
• Endoscopic variceal banding

Eskenazi Health Family Beginnings, located on the fifth floor of the Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital, encompasses a six-bed triage department, a 15-bed antepartum unit, 14 labor and delivery suites, two operating rooms, a five-bed recovery unit, and a 20-bed postpartum unit. Registered nurses are expertly trained in all areas of care within the department. Staffing is based on the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) guidelines. Nursing coordinates with the patient, family, loved ones and other health care disciplines to ensure care is appropriate for patient care needs.

Family Beginnings provides many educational amenities for the patient and family such as lactation consultants, newborn hearing screening and immunizations, adoption support, and access to the Marion County Public Health Department’s Healthy Families program. 

Hospital-Based Areas

Nurses care for those with mental health issues, psychiatric disorders, and co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders. They partner with individuals to achieve their recovery goals, provide health promotion and maintenance, conduct intake screenings, perform assessments, and collaborate with others as an essential part of the multidisciplinary team. They provide case management, teach self-care activities, and administer and monitor medications and potential side effects. They practice crisis intervention and stabilization. There is also a focus on other medical health needs and supporting routine care for a person’s whole health. They focus on developing partnerships with their patients to improve outcomes, promote independence, and improve coping abilities, living skills, and managing symptoms.

There are opportunities for both floor nursing and shift leads for psychiatric hospital-based care:

• Triage Unit – A 10-bed unit, patients needing acute mental health treatment are evaluated by crisis clinicians and psychiatric staff. Patients in this area are often high need and may be recovering from taking substances or an acute exacerbation of a mental illness. There is a focus on teamwork and collaboration.

• Thota Rao, M.D., & Aruna Rau, M.D., Crisis Intervention Unit

• Kathi & Bob Postlethwait Mental Health Recovery Center

Outpatient Areas

Sandra Eskenazi Mental Health Center is the oldest and one of the largest community mental health centers in Indiana. Services are available to all in the community, regardless of ability to pay. The team plays a critical role in the greater Indianapolis area of providing comprehensive mental health care to thousands of patients across the lifespan with serious and persistent mental illness.

Nursing staff members are embedded in clinical teams across Marion County and essential members of the multidisciplinary team approach to patient care. Nurses conduct structured assessments, identify mental and other health needs of the patient, support wraparound care of the patient, communicate with other professionals involved in the patient’s care, perform procedures, and train patients and their support system in strategies that support medication adherence.

Residential Services

Nursing staff members’ needs within Sandra Eskenazi Mental Health Center Residential Services include daily medication support, communication with psychiatric and medical providers and pharmacy services, and other medical monitoring for patients residing in group home and supportive housing environments. Nurses round regularly with patients in the semi-independent living program and offer medication training and support. Learn more about Sandra Eskenazi Mental Health Center Residential Services here. 

The Eskenazi Health Minimally Invasive Procedures Suite (MIPS) consists of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab, the Electrophysiology Lab, and Interventional and Neurointerventional Radiology. This unit has revolutionized patient access to procedures and the way patients are cared for at Eskenazi Health. Nurses are cross-trained in all of the separate procedural rooms making their skillset one of a kind and setting the care apart from other organizations. This team utilizes cutting-edge technology which provides alternatives to traditional surgery and delivers precision in minimally invasive procedures.

The Cardiac Catheterization Lab provides 24/7 emergency catheterization services for ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients. Interventional cardiologists and staff are on call around the clock to provide immediate heart attack care day or night. Procedures performed in the Cardiac Catheterization Lab include:

• Coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary interventions (stent placement, angioplasty, percutaneous interventions and orbital atherectomy)
• Pericardiocentesis
• Right and left heart catheterization

Procedures performed in the Electrophysiology (EP) lab include:

• EP studies and ablations
• Internal cardiac defibrillator (ICD) placement and cardiac resynchronization therapy
• Pacemaker and loop recorders

Procedures performed in the Interventional Radiology lab include:

• Traumas
• Embolization
• Y90s

Procedures performed in the Neurointerventional Radiology lab include:

• Stroke care
• Embolization
• Carotid procedures
• Angiograms

The Interventional and Neurointerventional Radiology labs provide 24/7 emergency procedures for traumas and stroke care. 

The 33-bed Eskenazi Health Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) provides care for premature or ill infants with difficulties such as respiratory distress, apnea, sepsis, pneumonia and congenital anomalies.

NICU registered nurses work in collaboration with physicians, nurse practitioners and respiratory therapists. Additionally, social workers, case managers, family support coordinators, certified lactation consultants, dietitians, physical and occupational therapists, speech therapists, and pharmacists are involved in the care of the baby and family.

Eskenazi Health has received the Neonatal Level of Care III certification in accordance with the Indiana Department of Health’s Perinatal Level of Care Program. 

Eskenazi Health Perioperative Services’ mission is to deliver safe, compassionate and quality care to surgical patients by promoting teamwork and collaboration, effectively utilizing resources, adhering to standards of practice, providing outstanding customer service and ensuring optimal patient outcomes. Perioperative nurses assess, plan, implement and coordinate patient care throughout their operative journey. Eskenazi Health has been recognized as a Surgical Quality Partner by the American College of Surgeons for the interdisciplinary collaboration on surgical quality initiatives. Perioperative Services includes:

Operating Room

Eskenazi Health has 21 total operating rooms (ORs). The main OR consists of 17 OR suites, including a hybrid endovascular suite, dedicated trauma suite and various robotics platforms. The OR is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week to ensure coverage for emergencies with eight-, 10- and 12-hour shifts. Eskenazi Health OR nurses are trained in all surgical specialties, which include general, gender health, breast, colorectal, ENT, orthopaedics, neurosurgery, OB/GYN, plastics, urology, vascular, thoracic, ophthalmology and trauma.  

Post-Anesthesia Care Unit

The Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) is a critical care-based unit where nurses work directly with anesthesiologists to assist patients in their immediate post-procedure phase of care. The 12-bed unit also supports the Acute Pain Service team. Nurses are responsible for performing direct patient care postoperatively, assessing, documenting, continuous cardiac monitoring and interpretation, providing medications, assisting with conscious sedation, and immediate post-anesthesia education.

Post-Procedure Short Stay Unit

Created in 2019, the Post-Procedure Short Stay Unit focuses on post-procedure patients who may need to stay for a 23-hour observation. This eight-bed unit has a 1:4 nurse-to-patient ratio. The multidisciplinary staff cares for patients recovering from procedures to allow for safe discharge home. Care can include continuous monitoring, medication titration and discharge education.

Pre-anesthesia Testing 

Eskenazi Health Pre-Anesthesia Testing (PAT) consists of nurse practitioners, RNs and care techs with medical oversight by anesthesiologists. In PAT, the staff ensures patients are optimized for surgery by conducting a thorough medical history review and a telephone screening questionnaire to determine the need for an in-person visit. Patients may come in to see a nurse practitioner and/or be referred for more specialized workups prior to surgery. Nurses will review surgery instructions for the days leading up to surgery and post-operative instructions. PAT also serves outpatients with physician orders through its walk-in lab.

Prep/Recovery

Eskenazi Health Prep/Recovery, also known as pre-op, prepares patients for surgery. On the day of a patient’s surgery, preoperative nurses ensure all surgical safety checks are completed and all labs and tests are done prior to the patient going to the operating room. Perioperative nurses will also help ensure patients are prepared for discharge after an initial recovery period, providing detailed education and guidance on post-operative care. 

Eskenazi Health provides primary care through the Eskenazi Health Center system, which has multiple locations throughout Marion County. Eskenazi Health Center is a Federally Qualified Health Center and does not deny services to any individual based on inability to pay; it is open to all.

The primary care nursing teams exemplify our commitment to advocacy, care, teaching and serving as part of our overarching mission. Working under a "Team Based Care" model, our clinical teams in primary care embrace an interprofessional approach to address complex patient needs. This model enhances quality, reduces costs, increases access, improves patient satisfaction and enhances the overall efficiency of health care delivery.

Our diverse nursing teams include team captains, floor captains, triage nurses, graduate nurses, patient care technicians and student nurse externs. Nurses employ critical thinking skills and clinical judgment to deliver comprehensive care, education and treatment within the health care setting.

During each patient encounter, nurses prioritize patient safety, care coordination, education, identification of social determinants of health and appropriate referrals. This includes utilizing nursing interventions such as identifying and clarifying patient needs, performing procedures, conducting health education, promoting patient advocacy, coordinating health services, assisting patients in navigating the health care system, evaluating patient outcomes, and conducting social determinant of health screens.

Eskenazi Health Center nurses qualify for the Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program, administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). This unique program provides loan repayment assistance to registered nurses who commit to working for at least two years at a HRSA-verified location. In return, they can receive repayment of up to 85% of their qualifying educational loans, plus an additional 25% if a third year of service is completed. 

Learn more about Eskenazi Health Center here.

The Eskenazi Health Radiology team provides care to patients requiring imaging and imagery-guided minor procedures, ultrasounds, moderate sedation procedures, and biopsies. This team of dedicated caregivers provides services to both inpatients and outpatients. 

Over 40 specialty care clinical areas are represented by six departments. Most of Eskenazi Health’s specialty care clinical areas are hospital-based, outpatient clinics. This is intentional to keep care centralized and allow patients to have access to as much as possible on one campus. All clinical hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. with no weekend or evening hours.

Orthopaedics

• Sports Medicine
• Total Joint Replacement
• Hand Clinic

Surgical Specialties (one department of over 15 surgical specialties)

• Cardiac Surgery
• Dermatology
• Dermatology – Photo Therapy
• ENT Surgery
• Urology Surgery
• Urology Gender Surgery
• Neurology
• Neurosurgery
• Anesthesia Pain
• Endocrine Surgery
• Vascular Surgery
• Colorectal Surgery
• Neurointerventional Radiology
• Thoracic Surgery
• Lung Cancer Screening Program
• Plastic Surgery

Special Medicine

• Over 16 specialties
• Infusion Center (reimbursement provided for achievement of oncology certification)
• Palliative Care

OB/GYN

• Breast Care

Ophthalmology

• Optical Shop

Gender Health

• Hormone Therapy
• Other specialty services 

The Smith Level I Shock Trauma Center at Eskenazi Health provides an extensive range of trauma care. Verified as the first adult Level I trauma center in Indiana through the American College of Surgeons (ACS).

Verified trauma centers must meet essential criteria that ensure trauma center capabilities and institutional performance, as defined by the ACS’s Committee on Trauma. The Committee on Trauma’s Verification Review and Consultation Program has certified that the Smith Level I Shock Trauma Center provides comprehensive care with the depth of resources addressing the needs of all injured patients, from pre-hospital to admission through rehabilitation.

Eskenazi Health has five state-of-the-art shock rooms and an operating room dedicated specifically for trauma patients. The trauma service is comprised of a multidisciplinary team of professionals, including board certified trauma/acute care surgeons, certified nurses, certified registry professionals, certified violence prevention professionals, violence intervention specialists, a victims advocate, a peer supporter, a social worker and a research coordinator.

The trauma program encompasses:

• EMS coordination
• Inpatient rounding 
• Performance improvement through Trauma Quality Improvement Process for American College of Surgeons (national data benchmarking) and Trauma Quality Improvement Process for Indiana (state data benchmarking)
• NIH-funded research
• Trauma registry
• Trauma specific education for nursing, community health care partners and physicians including an annual trauma symposium
• Injury prevention and outreach through Prescription for Hope, Stop the Bleed and statewide disaster preparedness
• Collaboration with Indiana Department of Health for development of statewide trauma system