Gabrielle “Gibby” Ryan, RN, BSN, CCRN, has worked as a staff nurse in the Cardiac Care Unit at Children’s Nebraska Criss Heart Center for nearly five years. As a lifelong patient of the center herself, Ryan brings a unique perspective to her work every day, with a deep understanding of the challenges and experiences heart families may face.
Ryan was born with Tetralogy of Fallot, a complex congenital heart defect, and underwent her first surgical repair at 10 months old, followed by a second at 13 years old. Ryan continues to be a patient of Children’s Nebraska Criss Heart Center through its Adult Congenital Heart Disease program, under the care of cardiologist Angela Yetman, M.D.
Daily Nurse proudly honors Gibby Ryan as the Nurse of the Week.
While completing nursing school alongside her twin sister, Lexie, at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Nursing, Ryan reconnected with her childhood surgeon, Kim Duncan, M.D. He suggested that she apply for a nursing position at Children’s Nebraska’s Criss Heart Center, which was expanding its cardiac care team in anticipation of the opening of the Hubbard Center for Children in 2021.
Both sisters were hired and started at the hospital within three months of each other, with Ryan beginning in June 2019, and her sister in September 2019. They both still serve in the same unit together.
Ryan cites her parents’ experience many years ago as the inspiration behind her caring approach to the patient families she serves today.
“I know it’s hard for families to trust someone they don’t know,” she says. “I try to keep that in mind when caring for a sick child and their family. Our unit at Children’s is really great, and it’s an honor to have families trust us.”
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