2023 Award Winner Spotlight: Direct Patient Care Nurse

Congratulations to the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses (ARN) member award winners. These awards were presented at ARN's 2023 Rehabilitation Nursing Conference this August in Providence, Rhode Island.

​2023 Direct Patient Care Nurse Winner: Lalita Thompson, MSN RN CRRN FARN​​

This award recognizes outstanding practice by a rehabilitation nurse in a direct patient care role. This award allows colleagues, family members, or a fellow rehab nurses to nominate someone who they see as going above and beyond in their everyday profession. 

Congratulations to this year's winner, Lalita Thompson, MSN RN CRRN FARN!

What does this honor mean to you?

Being honored as the recipient of this award is so meaningful because it has validated a career dedicated to rehabilitation nursing. I do not seek recognition for myself, but this award has given me an external source that others can recognize. It symbolizes the work I've done as a rehabilitation nurse. 

What does ARN provide you as a member?

I was able to grow and develop my leadership skills at the local chapter level. This gave me confidence to say yes to opportunities at the National ARN level. I felt empowered to transfer these skills to other areas of my life. ARN has not only enriched my career, but it has enriched me as a person. ARN has influenced my perspective, my way of thinking and my approach to situations. Active involvement in ARN has changed my life for the better.

In addition to this honor, Thompson has become a Fellow of ARN (FARN) and a member of the 2023-2024 Board of Directors.

The Direct Patient Care Nurse, and being inducted as a Fellow of ARN, provided a concrete platform that highlighted my commitment to rehabilitation nursing to other nurses who may not have known my work outside of my organization, and to the TIRR Memorial Hermann leadership team. 

If a person chose the nursing profession because they felt called to nursing, helping others, or improving the lives of others, there is no other area of nursing that is more fulfilling than rehabilitation nursing. 

What made you want to become a rehab nurse?

Like many student nurses and experienced acute care nurses, I had a false view of rehabilitation nursing. Life circumstances (or, fate) chose rehabilitation nursing for me. My plan was to work at TIRR for one year and return to acute care cardiovascular nursing. I recognize that many nurses may not have intentionally chosen rehabilitation nursing as their first choice but once they landed in rehabilitation nursing, it gets a hold on you.

If a person chose the nursing profession because they felt called to nursing, helping others, or improving the lives of others, there is no other area of nursing that is more fulfilling than rehabilitation nursing.

You fall in love with it, and you never want to leave. 

What is your favorite thing about being a rehab nurse?

Patient-Centered Care: Rehabilitation nursing is truly patient-centered. It is embedded in every aspect of rehabilitation nursing. You cannot do rehabilitation nursing without getting to know your patient. I like the philosophy of rehabilitation nursing because patient-centered is literally the core or center value of what we do. There is nothing that we (rehab nurses) do that isn't tailored to the patient's needs. It is a holistic approach. We ensure the patient's family or support system is educated and provided the skills to set the patient up for success.

Continuity of Care: Patients are with us for a much longer length of time than compared to an acute care inpatient stay. I have the added pleasure of providing inpatient and outpatient care. I have patients who have an Intrathecal Baclofen Pump that I care for in our hospital-based outpatient clinic that I was their bedside nurse over 25 years ago. This professional relationship provides knowledge of my patient and their family that enhances my ability to provide personalized, patient-centered, holistic nursing care.

I may have fallen into rehabilitation nursing, but I have never looked back! 

About Lalita Thompson 

​Thompson is a Coordinator II ITB Pump Program at TIRR Memorial Hermann in Houston, TX. As one of the nation's leading experts in ITB therapy, she's provided consultations to numerous organizations on building ITB programs and trained countless physicians and nurses. She has been nominated multiple times for the Excellence in Nursing Award from the Good Samaritan Foundation in 2014 and 2016, for her dedication to her work. In her spare time, she volunteers with the UT Health Stroke Institute, providing education to the community and with Rehabilitation Services Volunteer Project, a non-profit organization that provides recycled medical equipment, donated supplies and medical services by volunteer physicians, nurses, therapist and pharmacists.

Nominated by ARN Past President, Patricia Quigley, PhD MPH APRN CRRN FAAN FAANP FARN (Patricia A. Quigley Nurse Consultant, LLC), Quigley describes Thompson as " the quintessential nurse; compassionate, powerful, and resourceful." She goes on to describe Thompson as "tirelessly dedicated the past 29 years to serving the disability community, promoting the profession of nursing, and supporting the development of future clinicians."

"From Lalita's innovative work building an Intrathecal Baclofen (ITB) program at TIRR Memorial Hermann, to her service in revitalizing our local ARN chapter, and her dedication to serving ARN nationally, Lalita's influence on rehab nurses and practice is immeasurable."