ARN Southeast Texas Chapter

Kuldip K. Amolenda, BSN, RNC, CRRN

Clinical Rehabilitation Nurse of the Year, 1998

Current Employment:   U.T. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

                                            St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital

 

Position(s):         Research Nurse in Radiation Oncology Department at MD Anderson

                               Weekend Staff Nurse, Clinical Ladder IV at St. Luke’s

  

ARN Involvement:         SETX Chapter member since 1992

                                            Membership Committee       2001-Present

                                            Research Committee            2001

                                            Nominating Committee         2000

National ARN Involvement:  Continuing Education Approval Review Panel  2002-Present

Awards:         Presidential Service Award – St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital , March 1996

                         Clinical Ladder IV at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, 1991-Present

Community Involvement:  Active in several Health Fairs sponsored by St. Luke’s

	taking blood pressures
	giving flu shots
	Astro Arena mass immunization program fo r school age children

Previous Experience:   U.S. Peace Corps in Manila, Philippines

After graduating with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Marian College in Manila, Philippines in 1978, Kuldip became a United States Peace Corps Nurse in Manila Philippines from August 1979 to July 1982, and again from June 1983 to May 1990.  She practiced Medical-Surgical nursing in a clinic setting. 

Kuldip has also worked as a staff nurse in a Burn Unit/Plastic surgery Department in Khoula Hospital, Muskat, Oman in the Middle East.

Kuldip states that she worked with many individuals with strokes even in the Philippines. However, it was when she joined the float pool at The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research and experienced taking care of young kids with spinal cord injuries, especially the pediatric population, that she saw the miracles of rehabilitation.  She states, “ I just can not get out of rehabilitation nursing anymore.  Meeting my former patients doing well outside the hospital in the grocery stores, shopping malls, and in the community church is a heart warming experience that makes me continue to work in rehabilitation.”

Kuldip’s Nurse Manager has this to say:

“One of the most important attributes that Kuldip displays is consistent enthusiasm for continuing quality and education at the unit level.  She challenges her colleagues and is always searching for ideas to enhance the practice of Rehabilitation nursing.”

“Kuldip displays compassion and earnest interest in each patient individually.” 

 What Rehabilitation Nursing Means to Me:  An Endless Search for Possibilities

Kuldip writes, “ I have been a medical surgical nurse since I graduated from nursing in 1976.  I started working as a rehabilitation nurse in 1990.  At present, I am certified in both medical surgical and rehabilitation specialties.

For me, rehabilitation nursing compared to other fields of nursing  is more on dedication and respect for individual’s dignity.  It is being sensitive to clients needs and requires more patience and understanding of a client’s illness and disability.  Being a nurse in rehabilitation requires a well-rounded personality, a very good knowledge of basic nursing skills and special training in independent decision making as well as rehabilitation nursing process.  

It is a field of nursing that can be considered an endless search for possibilities for the client to accept that limitation of body and mind and the society is real. 

I believe in rehabilitation nursing as a highly skilled field of nursing, that a nurse is expected to collaborate with a multidisciplinary or an interdisciplinary health team to achieve the rehabilitation goals for an individual client.  For me the major goal of rehabilitation should be to assist a person with a disability and chronic illness in attaining maximum functional ability, maintaining optimal health and adapting to an altered lifestyle and at the same time be able to live with comfort, dignity and respect. 

It is in rehabilitation nursing that I really felt being a full-fledged nurse, that I am able to take care of a very sick client up to the time I see him or her progress to independent functioning level.  It is also in this field of nursing that I am able to actually practice the different roles of a nurse, from being a caregiver, a client educator, a counselor, a coordinator, a client advocate and a researcher all at the same time.

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