Kylie Puckett knows the value of a caring hospital staff.
Following her hospitalization twice in one month, the CoxHealth MRI technician says she came to fully appreciate the impact she could have on a patient’s experience. “I didn’t receive poor care during either stay, but the people who went above and beyond to make my care and comfort their No. 1 priority always stood out,” she says.
That singular focus on the patient has garnered significant recognition for the Oklahoma native through several career-affirming experiences in her seven years with CoxHealth. She was chosen to help develop policies and procedures when the first MRI-compatible pacemaker was introduced in 2010 and tapped the following year as a lead technologist when the hospital added a second unit during the upgrade of its emergency room to a Level 1 trauma center. Puckett expects further opportunities to arise as CoxHealth adds at least one additional MRI as part of its $130 million inpatient tower expansion. Slated to open in fall 2014, the 310,000-square-foot, nine-story tower will include dedicated wings for women, children and neurosciences.
MRI – magnetic resonance imaging – is the field’s advanced imaging tool, allowing detailed visualization of internal body parts. Puckett says it is particularly effective at charting soft tissue and organs, as well as pinpointing abnormalities within the brain, muscles or heart.
With its excessive noise and prolonged time frame – 25 minutes to three hours – spent motionless in an enclosed cylinder, MRIs also often reveal more than just anatomical features. “I can’t even count how many people who have realized they’re claustrophobic while getting their first MRI,” Puckett says.
Although more dramatic than most interactions, Puckett recounts an instance early in her career where her focus on the patient and bedside manner saved the day. The patient was a highly decorated World War II veteran, whose MRI results were vital to an accurate diagnosis, but the machine’s tight space and loud noise triggered post-traumatic memories of a friend’s death in a foxhole nearly three-quarters of a century earlier. Puckett comforted the aging military hero and got him talking about the motivation that pulled him through the horror of war and back to his family. That memory provided the necessary courage to soldier on through the test, though it took more than an hour of hand-holding and tear-wiping. “No matter how busy I might be, I know the patient I’m working with at that moment needs to be my No. 1 priority,” she says.
Despite such large changes looming on the horizon for CoxHealth, Puckett believes the key to excellence is her continuing in-the-moment focus on the person who is front-and-center at the time.“I want to continue along my career path and grow and evolve with the industry and technology,” she says. “But I truly believe if I continue to take care of the patients who are relying on me, everything else will fall into place.”[[In-content Ad]]
