TriageLogic Employee Spotlight: Barbianne Roe

Welcome to the TriageLogic Employee Spotlight. This week’s rock star is Barbianne Roe, a registered nurse since 2003. Barbianne joined our team a couple years back as a triage nurse, and now serves as our Customer Service Manager. We sat down with her recently to talk more about what drew her to a career in healthcare, and some of the experiences she’s had along the way. Check out excerpts from that interview below.

Interviewer: How did you realize that you wanted to become a nurse? 

Barbianne: I was in school making prosthetic devices and just realized one day that I wanted to take care of people, not spend all my time in a shop making a leg or shoe insert. I wanted my time to be with the patient, encouraging them, teaching them, really empowering them to get well and be well. 

I: What’s your background?

B: I graduated in May of 2006 doing my final clinical rotation, and all of my graduate nursing time in neurosurgery at UPMC. I stopped nursing for 11 months to care for my preemie boy (who is now 15!) and went back to my hometown hospital in the Progressive Care Unit and General Critical Care until 2014. At that time, I moved to Savannah from Pittsburgh. I went there to interview for their Progressive Care Unit, but their Neuro ICU manager stole the interview and hired me the next day! So, I spent 2014 – 2019 working there and in our Central Referral Department where I learned about phone triage. I joined TriageLogic in December of 2019 and left the hospital in August of 2020 when homeschool was our only option for my children. I have been happily employed with TriageLogic 100% since then, and now I get to be on both sides of the process supporting clients as well as patients.

I: What’s your experience been like since joining TriageLogic?

B: Where do I start! I like the sense of community that we have, despite our team being all over the country. I like that the priority is always the health and safety of the patients we serve, no matter what role we have in making that happen, from management all the way to customer service.

I: How do you feel that you make a difference?

B: I think sometimes patients and their families just need the reassurance they are not alone. Especially now when ERs are scary or full, it helps to know there is still someone who wants to know you are OK. We provide education and support when fear and anxiety are high. I can hear it often in the relief in a parent’s voice when you say, “OK, I’m here with you, let’s talk about what is going on and make a plan.”

I: What do you like to do in your spare time?

B: Home life includes work, which makes home life even better! I have been married to my long-lost high school sweetheart for six years now. I have a 15-year-old son who is autistic and a four-year-old daughter. We homeschool both kiddos. TriageLogic allows me to have meals with my family, put our little one to bed, and help the kids with school. I also like to knit when my four-year-old doesn’t steal the yarn, and we have three sweet pups. 

I: What makes a good triage nurse? What advice would you give to someone new to the role? 

B: I think the best triage nurse has compassionate listening skills, a willingness to be flexible in their assessments, and knows their limits well enough to ask for help when it’s needed. Triage nursing allows us to really practice fully in our scope and abilities, and TriageLogic empowers us well to do that with their choice of Schmidt-Thompson protocols. I think the advice I would give a new triage nurse is don’t be afraid to speak up when you are stumped, and trust the guidelines when you aren’t sure. Our team of nurses are the best I have worked with in my career as a nurse. Despite being all across the country, we are always going to support each other when we are caring for our patients. 

I: Tell us about any awards or accomplishments you’ve received in healthcare.

B: I was the 2012 National Winner of the Cherokee Uniforms’ Inspired Comfort Award for helping create a network of support in my community (due to a fire or disaster). 

We’d like to give special recognition to Barbianne about the circumstances for how she earned this award. Back when she was a nurse at Heritage Valley Sewickley Hospital, Barbianne learned of a large fire at an apartment building in her local area. She’d just come home from an extended shift helping a coworker, but that didn’t stop her from immediately heading back out. She spent that night checking up on patients and firefighters at the scene, then contacted the American Red Cross the next day to offer her assistance to families who had been affected or displaced. She even raised money for their temporary shelter by coordinating with community members and churches.

In a culture where we are so often left to fend for ourselves, nursing has allowed me the chance to give to others in a way that has lasting effects. I have the unique opportunity to serve others at a time when they are most vulnerable.

– Barbianne Roe