FALL 2024

SMH-Sarasota is well known for its Cardiovascular Surgery program. The program features one of the state’s most advanced cardiac surgical teams, which performs more than 1,000 cardiovascular surgeries and 8,000 procedures each year. But often, what patients remember most about their experience isn’t their surgeon or their procedure, but the navigator who guided them through the process.

“People come back to their surgeon’s office afterward, and the only thing they talk about is their navigator,” says David Patterson, RN, BSN, MBA, Associate Chief Nursing Officer—Surgical Services at SMH.

Patterson was inspired to create the Cardiac Navigator Patient Care program after he and his late wife visited Cleveland Clinic many years ago. “I was so impressed with its patient care model and its follow-through that I said if I ever had the opportunity to recreate a program like that at some point in my career, that was my goal,” he says. The SMH program launched in 2017, and thanks to a generous $1 million gift from a donor in 2020, Patterson was able to expand it from one navigator to five.

Cardio/Thoracic navigators act as advocates, assisting patients throughout the entire surgery experience and helping them find their way around the sprawling SMH campus. As soon as someone is scheduled for a procedure, their assigned navigator helps them line up all the necessary tests—including blood work, lung function and cardiac tests—and accompanies the person to those tests.

Navigators also guide patients through all the steps of the actual procedure. “The navigator will be waiting for patients at 5:30 in the morning on the day of surgery. They’ll meet them when they drop off their car at the valet and will make sure they get where they need to be,” says Cameron Watt, MSN, CNML, who is Director of Cardiovascular Services at the SMH Sarasota Campus. That includes accompanying patients to the echocardiogram and stress test and staying with them through the entire length of their stay until they’re discharged home or to a rehabilitation facility. Patients are also given a phone number they can call with any questions before and after their procedure.

Having someone to answer their questions and guide them through the surgical process elevates patient care and provides reassurance during what could otherwise be a highly stressful experience. “Finding out that you need bypass surgery or valve replacement is some of the scariest information you’re ever going to get. Your stress level shoots to the moon,” Watt says. “The navigators alleviate all those fears. They help to relieve anxiety during one of the biggest surgeries you can have.”

During surgery, the navigator provides updates to family members who are waiting at the hospital. Thanks to an app called Ease, they can also securely update relatives in other parts of the country on the patient’s condition, hour by hour from surgery through recovery.

Since the program’s inception, the navigator program has also expanded into thoracic and oncology surgery. The service is free of charge to patients and their families. Donor support helps make enhanced services like this possible. “Philanthropy allows us to be state-of-the-art and have the latest and best tools for patient care at our fingertips,” Patterson says.

“The Foundation is such a benefit to this organization, working to ensure that we’re meeting our community’s needs,” adds Watt. “The donors have made it so that Sarasota Memorial can become the best possible organization it can be.”

He has seen firsthand the effects of the program on patient care—both in his role at the hospital and in his personal life. “I’ve had two or three friends who have gone through the program, and they raved about it,” he says. “They thought it was an awesome service. It takes away so much of the stress and anxiety.”

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