Inspired by Our Patients

The wall across from Dea Mahanes’ desk is covered with photographs of recovering patients and their families.

Mahanes is the clinical nurse specialist in the Nerancy Neuro Intensive Care Unit (NNICU), which treats patients with severe illness or injury to the brain or spinal cord.

“My patients are my inspiration,” she says. “The photos are a reminder to me of the tenacity and strength of character that everyday people show under the worst of conditions.”

Education to Improve Patient Care

As a clinical nurse specialist, Mahanes serves these patients by making sure the level of care we offer in the NNICU is the best it can possibly be. To do this, she serves as a clinical educator, bringing her fellow nurses the best practices and information they need to be more effective advocates for the well-being of their patients.

But Mahanes does more than that. She also brings new evidence-based practices and technologies to UVA. Thanks to her efforts, the NNICU successfully adopted a new brain tissue oxygen monitoring system that has improved outcomes for patients with severe traumatic brain injury.

When he was admitted to the NNICU after a car accident, doctors weren’t sure that Jay Mason would survive. But thanks to the care he received – and leading-edge technology like the oxygen monitoring system that Mahanes championed  – he is back to being a dad, a husband and employee with Delta Airlines.

“I love what I do because I can make a difference in the life of everyone who passes through the NNICU,” Mahanes says.