Wesorick lecturer learns patient's entire story

Lauran Hardin was a practicing nurse in Boston after earning a degree and said she often picked up extra shifts to learn as much as she could about the profession.

When a back injury meant she couldn't work as a nurse anymore, Hardin was devastated. Bonnie Wesorick helped Hardin through that process by assisting with her transition to a different role in health care and teaching Hardin how important it is to learn the patient's entire story.

Hardin honored Wesorick March 29 by giving a presentation at the DeVos Center as the distinguished lecturer for the Bonnie Wesorick Center for Health Care Transformation. Housed in the Kirkhof College of Nursing, the center honors Wesorick, founder and chair emerita for the Clinical Practice Model Resource Center in Grand Rapids.

"My biggest fear was that I couldn't work, I couldn't go to school," Hardin said. "Bonnie helped me find the holistic root cause of my story. I needed a bridge to employment and I needed help with anxiety, grief and loss. Bonnie stepped forward."

Hardin is the director of the complex care center for Mercy Health System, and deals with high-frequency and complex patient cases. High-frequency is defined as four or more inpatient hospital visits annually. Her team has decreased hospital costs and the number of visits by these patients by treating them and learning their entire story, Hardin said, adding that often means bringing in substance abuse, mental health and social work professionals.

"We think we need to be good at everything, but when you quickly expand the table to involve others, you get to the answers," she said.

More about the Wesorick Center is online, click here.