Nursing Profile

Deborah Barella, RN
WMC Outpatient Department Clinical Team Leader

In her seven years at Wyoming Medical Center, Deb Barella has earned quite a reputation for her gentle and accurate approach to starting IVs.

“I had a patient who came in frequently for blood transfusions, and one day she was just not herself,” recalls Deb, who decided to discharge the woman from the Outpatient Department and take her to the ER. “It was found that she had had a stroke, and she was readmitted to the hospital for care on the Neuro Unit. While in the ER her IV blew, and her family requested that I come down and restart it, as they knew I could get it without causing too much stress to the patient.”

Deb has even come in on her day off at a patient’s request to start an IV. “Whatever I can do for a patient is a privilege,” says the nurse, who also finds professional satisfaction in sharing her knowledge with co-workers and students and the fact that physicians seek her assistance in performing certain procedures.

She looks to the memory of her grandmother, who was a nurse, for inspiration in carrying out these duties. “She gave me the nurse’s cap she graduated in and her nurse’s bible before she passed away, and I look at them every day. These items give me the strength and drive to make my grandmother proud because I know that she is watching over me and smiling.”