Brittany Means, RN, BSN

Brittany is Pulsara's Vice President of Commercial Operations. Her combined experience as both a front line caregiver, as well as an overseer of care throughout the health system has given her great insight into the breakdowns in communication in patient care.

Brittany Means, RN, BSN

Aligning for Success: Exploring the Keys to Leadership and Lasting Change

By Brittany Means, RN, BSN on Feb 10, 2021

Most advice on becoming an effective leader is geared—maybe not surprisingly—toward the things we can change about ourselves. We focus our attention on asking ourselves, “Do I have the right values, the right traits, the right competencies, or even the right style to be a good leader?”

While those questions are important, we sometimes forget that the environment you create for your team makes just as much, if not more, of an impact. From asking questions to listening to their team members, an effective leader is attuned to their environment and fosters an atmosphere where their coworkers are safe to grow and learn.

Topics: Leadership Communication Change Management Preparedness

3 min read

Mobilize Your Care Teams Early to Maximize Peak Performance

By Brittany Means, RN, BSN on Jan 22, 2021

Picture this:

About 12 hours into your 24-hour shift, you and your partner are finally sitting down to your first real meal of the day.

Just as the first bite of warm food hits your lips, the tones drop—an all-too-familiar scenario in the world of first responders.

You’re dispatched to a 51-year-old male reporting chest pain. You walk in the door to a very distraught family, gathered around a man clutching his chest. He is pale and sweating profusely. You meet your partner’s eyes, and you know you’re both thinking the same thing. You quickly obtain the ECG and your suspicions are confirmed: tombstones in leads II, III, and AVF.

Topics: Stroke STEMI EMS Coordinators' Corner

4 min read

AHA/ASA 2018 Guidelines for Early Management of Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients: 15 Key Takeaways

By Brittany Means, RN, BSN on Feb 16, 2018

For most, the words “MR CLEAN” evoke thoughts of the bald man on the bottle of your go-to household cleaner, but for those of us in stroke care, those words immediately take us back to the monumental ISC meeting of 2015 – where the clinical trials that forever changed the management of stroke patients were revealed.

While that conference will eternally be a tough act to follow, the meeting of the minds at ISC 2018 DAWNed yet another “New Day in Stroke Care.” Clinical trials such as Arise II, Extend-IA TNK, DEFUSE 3, and further results from DAWN were revealed, and to no surprise, are responsible for much of the research backing the new AHA/ASA 2018 Guidelines for Early Management of Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients.

2 min read

How to Make Healthcare Communication as Simple as Coordinating Dinner

By Brittany Means, RN, BSN on Feb 08, 2018

In my life, for all of the important things -- weddings, holiday events, dinners, etc. -- the first thing that my loved ones and I do is create a dedicated channel for that event, in the form of a group text.

We then build the necessary team by adding everyone involved in planning to that channel.

Then, we communicate. All in one place, all on the same page, all getting the same information as soon as it's available.

Why do we make these group text channels?

Topics: Healthcare Communication

1 min read

Your ED Overcrowding is Costing Stroke Patients Brain Tissue

By Brittany Means, RN, BSN on Jan 12, 2017

1.9 million neurons, 14 billion synapses, and 7.5 miles of myelinated fibers — this is what a brain experiencing an acute stroke loses every MINUTE that passes without treatment. Even more compelling, the brain ages 3.6 YEARS with every hour that a stroke goes untreated. It doesn’t require a medical degree to understand why reducing the treatment times of stroke patients is a vital priority for the healthcare community.

Topics: Stroke Healthcare

2 min read

I Know When That Pager Bling ... Why Healthcare NEEDS to Catch Up to the Technological World [VIDEO]

By Brittany Means, RN, BSN on May 31, 2016

What do car-phones, pagers, Nintendo, and Sony Discman all have in common? They were the top contenders for the hottest gadgets of 1985. You read that right-1985, as in over 30 YEARS ago! While cell phones quickly displaced car-phones and pagers in the 1990s, it seems the world of healthcare never received the memo...

Topics: Leadership Healthcare

2 min read

EMTs and Paramedics: Happy EMS Week and Thank You for Your Service!

By Brittany Means, RN, BSN on May 19, 2015

Whether it be as a visitor of a dear friend after surgery, for the birth of the newest family member, or as the patient yourself, there are few of us who haven’t found ourselves in the hospital setting. On the other hand, a much smaller percentage of the population has had a front row seat to the care that takes place prehospital. Even as a nurse in the hospital, I had little to no contact with these everyday heroes, and therefore knew very little about the immense role that they play in patient care. It wasn’t until I met my husband, a flight paramedic, that my eyes were opened to the world of EMS.

Topics: EMS

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Brittany Means, RN, BSN