About C.A.N.
Healthcare is a multi-faceted complex system with unlimited avenues for treatment, care planning and implementation of Medical and Nursing care plans. This reality can and does create conflicts, miscommunication between providers and patients/families and even create conflicts amongst healthcare providers. This reality, most often, leaves confusion for patients and their families which can often lead to comorbidities and even death. Failure to understand HOW the system operates and HOW to properly navigate it are major culprits to feeling overwhelmed and out of control.
Consumer Advocate Nurse strives to bridge these chasms between patients and families and the healthcare system with the primary goal to prevent patient harm, family frustration and improve the overall experiences and outcomes with any healthcare journey.
We empower healthcare consumers to take charge of their care by teaching them HOW to navigate systems, effectively communicate your needs and your expectations of the system to the necessary and desired outcomes for maximum wellness. We help you understand your rights as patients and families within these systems which, by its very nature, can often violate those basic human and Constitutional rights.
Our Mission
“Empowering all Healthcare consumers to take charge and navigate the complex maze of any healthcare setting, that ensures optimum opportunity to achieve maximum healthcare results and avoid pitfalls and practices that jeopardize consumer health and wellness.”
Who is The Consumer Advocate Nurse?
Angela Ryan is a retired Registered Nurse with extensive experience in Pediatric and Neonatal nursing. Her resume includes over 35 years of Healthcare experience, 25 at direct Bedside staff nursing care in many fields nursing including 5 years as a Nursing assistant in a variety of Healthcare facilities prior and during Nursing school.
Her primary nursing career focus was dedicated to the myriad departments in Pediatric and Neonatal nursing including Neonatal ICU and High risk deliveries, Pediatric ICU, Cardiac ICU, Emergency Room, Med/Surg/ICU Float team, 8 years as an ECMO (Heart/lung Bypass) RN tech, Clinical leader, Vascular Access Clinical nurse, Charge nurse, and Charge Nurse Educator and nearly 2 decades as a Hospital Administrative Nursing Supervisor.
As a supervisor of a large (over 500) bed Pediatric hospital, she was responsible, during any given shift, for nearly 2 dozen departments, including all hospital medical/nursing and specialty care units, ensuring adequate staffing and balancing staff experience with patient census and acuity, Emergency room activity (trauma’s and critical care flow), Security, Engineering, Dietary, Hospital communication services, Environmental services and so much more.
For nearly 35 years Angela’s work, which she describes as her “ministry”, has involved not only hands-on bedside care for patients and families but the vital role of Nurse advocate/Mediator between Medicine, Nursing and other allied healthcare departments for families and patients.
It was during her time as a Hospital Administrative Nursing Supervisor that she learned just how vital and valuable the role of a Nurse Patient/Family Advocate can be and how EVERYONE who enters ANY healthcare system NEEDS this vital role at some point during their encounter to help patients navigate the complex and intricate world of Healthcare.
In nursing school they teach you that this role, the Nurse Advocate role, is a vital position that can change outcomes for the better, improve patient family satisfaction scores for healthcare systems and literally make a difference in life vs death decision-making that happens every day within these systems.
For over a decade she has had it on her heart to begin educating Healthcare consumers on HOW to advocate for themselves or a family loved one, through effective communication, asking the right questions, knowing the chain of command in Healthcare settings and so much more.
It is Angela’s hope that through the myriad of her vast, past work experiences merged with her role as, the Consumer Advocate Nurse we can change the outcomes and experiences within our complex Healthcare system at all venues for all Healthcare consumers.
It is also her prayer that people will feel empowered to speak up, speak out and advocate for themselves and their loved ones who may not be able to use their own voice during a healthcare crisis, to make decisions and get answers from your healthcare team through confidant articulation of needs, questions and following the appropriate chains of command.