Melissa Cardine

MSN, RN, WOCN, BCPA
The Bridge RN Patient Advocates
Melissa
legacy member

Melissa Cardine

MSN, RN, WOCN, BCPA
The Bridge RN Patient Advocates
Advocate Location
Gilbert , AZ 85296
Specialty
Medical Guidance
Other Services
Special Care & Aging
TeleAdvocacy Available
Offers FREE Initial Consultation
Call Advocate Email Advocate
*Greater National Advocates Terms of Use Apply
How I Can Help
"Bridging the gaps from diagnosis to healing through personalized, holistic, RN advocacy."

The health care system is a complex business. It is difficult to understand. We can assist you with navigating this complex system. Patient focused care is the core of the nurse's approach.

What we do

• Complete an initial comprehensive assessment of your personal situation.

• Research and inform you about available treatment options.

• Provide you with information to better understand what you are encountering in the health care world.

• Create a personal plan for you to make informed medical decisions.

• Educate you how to become your own health advocate.

Services provided

• Facilitate communication between your medical professionals.

• Speak with health care providers and relatives on your behalf.

• Call or visit your physician with you.

• Provide you with self-confidence about your decisions.

• Provide options for natural integrative medicine.

• Provide options for functional medicine.

• Save you time.

• Make phone calls on your behalf.

• Help you and your loved ones understand what is going on.

• Help reduce your medical costs.

• Complete a medication review looking for drug interactions and side effects.

• Review your medical records and test reports.

• Provide you referrals to resources.

• Advocate on your behalf or your loved one's behalf in the hospital setting.

• Be a health care proxy.

• Plan for future health care needs.

• Provide community education to a group, church, place of business.
Important Information About Me
  • I offer a FREE Initial Consultation
  • I offer TeleAdvocacy Service
  • I am insured
  • My geographical area of practice is Phoenix, AZ area and teleconference available
Why I Became A Professional Health Care Advocate
The Bridge RN Patient Advocates PLLC

About Me

I have been a nurse for over 25 years. I received my Bachelor in Nursing in 1997 and my Masters in Nursing in 2002. My passion is listening to patients, families and care givers. I have done that at every turn in a nursing career that spans from complex home health care services, hospital nursing, and to opening a nationally recognized outpatient treatment center.

I truly believe that healing accelerates when patients and health care providers connect and build a common understanding of symptoms and goals. I believe this process is most effective when both sides of the healing dialog are informed about a comprehensive picture of a person's situation. Unfortunately the current health care system limits the ability of both the patient and their health care providers to achieve this with regularity.

As a nurse I've seen how limited the time is that health care providers can devote to each patient. We don't always have time to listen. Listen to who you are, what you have experienced, what your needs are, and what goals you have. We are focused on an acute situation. The here and now. I've watched the national model for delivering health care services become so narrowly focused that treatments are only for specific symptoms or ailments, but not for a person's complete health. I want to help stem the tide. During my Master's program I developed a Geriatric Care Management program. I envisioned helping elderly people and their families navigate the health care system. I envisioned empowering people to be their own or their loved ones best advocate. Instead of pursuing that immediately I continued in my nursing career and built a family. I am a wife and mother of three wonderful children living in Gilbert, Arizona. The additional decade has been one of personal and professional growth, but my passion for listening to patient stories is still the same as the day I first became a nurse.

In October 2015, that passion and the ideas I developed in my Master's program, turned into action. I enrolled in the Independent RN Patient Advocate program through the University of Arizona and started The Bridge RN. It was time to share with others how they too can manage their own health. It was time to listen and educate clients on how to ask questions, understand their options, research alternatives, look at the big picture, and discover the root cause of their ailments whether physical, emotional, or spiritual.

The vision of The Bridge RN Patient Advocates is "Bridging the gaps from diagnosis to healing through personalized, holistic, RN advocacy". Is it time you tell your story and heal yourself in order to live a life of wellness? The Bridge is here to help you go from being diagnosed or labeled with a disease to finding your own defined place of healing.
Contact Advocate
Formal Education
Northern Arizona University, BSN, 1997

University of Phoenix, MSN, 2002

Metropolitan University, WOCN, 2006

University of Arizona, iRNPA, 2018
Additional Skills
Board Certified Patient Advocate
Experience in neurological diseases (Parkinson, Alzheimer, Traumatic Brain Injury TBI, stroke, Lewy Body Dementia, MS)
Experience in cancer management
Experience in holistic, integrative, functional medicine
Expert in discharge and transitions of care, hospital, skilled nursing facility, acute rehab, assisted living, independent living, home health, home care
Exceptional at care coordination amongst physician and providers
Assist with second opinions
Provide education and resources of diagnosis, medications, and treatment plan
Communicate with hospital, rehab, or assisted living
Coordinate all care for client and family
References available upon request
Professional Affiliations
American Nurses Association

Arizona Nurses Association

Board Certified Patient Advocate

National Association of Healthcare Advocacy

HealthAdvocateX

Arizona Association of Patient Advocates