Lisa Robinson, registered nurse, professor
Lisa Robinson, a registered nurse who was a professor of psychiatric nursing at the University of Maryland School of Nursing and an assistant professor at the University of Maryland Medical School, died July 5 of complications of cerebral amyloid angiopathy at Brooksby Village, a Peabody, Mass., senior living retirement community. The former Roland Park and Kent Island resident was 82.
The former Lisa Swartz, the daughter of Walter Swartz, owner of T.I. Swartz, a clothing manufacturer, and his wife, Evalyn, a pianist, was born in Baltimore and raised in Windsor Hills.
In 1959, Dr. Robinson graduated from Union Memorial Hospital’s School of Nursing, and received a master’s in nursing from the University of Maryland School of Nursing. She obtained a Ph.D. in human development in 1970 from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Dr. Robinson held two academic appointments. She became a professor of psychiatric nursing at the University of Maryland’s School of Nursing in 1970 and an assistant professor of liaison psychiatry in the university’s medical school.
“She was a founder of psychiatric liaison nursing, a subspecialty of traditional psychiatric nursing,” a daughter, Susan Lanoue of Beverly, Mass., wrote in a biographical profile of her mother.
“Psychiatric liaison nursing is a consulting role between the primary care team and the psychiatric nurse. The psychiatric liaison nurse advocates for the mental health needs of the patient when being treated for non-psychiatric illnesses in the hospital,” Ms. Lanoue wrote. “Their expertise is in addressing behavioral management and environmental awareness to enhance the best outcome for the patient. This is especially true for the most vulnerable or suicidal.”
Dr. Robinson wrote and spoke widely on such topics as “The Crying Patient,” “The Demanding Patient,” “Communications in Cancer Nursing” and “Death and Dying,” and published her first book, “Psychological Aspects of the Care of Hospitalized Patients,” in 1968. She also was the author of the textbook “Psychiatric Nursing as a Human Experience” and “Liaison Nursing: A Psychological Approach to Patient Care.”
After she retired in 1996, she continued working in private practice.
Dr. Robinson later moved to Plymouth, Mass., and since 2004 lived in Peabody. She was a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, and in 2013 was honored as the International Society of Liaison PsychiatricMental Health Nurses’ First Living Legend. Dr. Robinson who enjoyed reading, listening to classical music, boating and travel, had a “deep abiding love for her dogs and horses,” her daughter wrote.
She was married for 14 years to Moses N. Glushakow, a sculptor and teacher, who died in 2002. A graveside service was held July 12 at Chizuk Amuno Congregation Arlington Cemetery in Baltimore.
In addition to her daughter, Dr. Robinson is survived by a son, Bruce Robinson of Finksburg; another daughter, Karen Levian of Baltimore; and three grandchildren. An earlier marriage to Dr. Neil Robinson ended in divorce.