Melanie Nelson

Melanie Nelson RN Med Surg Ortho Neuro Trauma

I would like to nominate Melanie Nelson from the 8th floor unit as a deserving recipient of the DAISY Award.

Mel has been in the 8th floor for more than a year now and already made a difference in the lives of the patients she took care of. She always has the positive energy and the enthusiasm to work with a smile on her face that eases her out her patients' suffering. She handles difficult patients well and intently listens to their worries and tries to find solutions for them even if she needs to go extra mile.

We have one patient on the floor that kept coming back for failure to thrive, she also has multiple sclerosis and other co-morbidities, and patient lives alone. Melanie was able to establish connection with her while in the hospital. The patient is stuck in bed with no friends and her life slowly slipping away from her. Mel was able to provide her "small needs" that made a lot of difference; an ear to listen, an ice cream, a bar of chocolate, a trip outside to the store and someone whom she can call a friend. When the patient got discharged, Mel visits her and even brings her to some of her doctor's appointment. 

This is just an example of how she touched the lives of the patients; she always gets compliments from them saying how wonderful their experiences were while they were on this unit. Most of the patients request her to be the nurse when they come back for another surgery.

I happen to ask Mel what inspired her to do this amazing job in making her patients happy and satisfied and she provided me a brief background about herself. She grew up with nurses all around, her aunts and uncles and even her husband belong to a family of RN's. What influenced her mostly was going with her mom and aunt when they worked home health. As a kid, she would go with them on their home visits and help perform ADL's. She had an aunt who was diagnosed with breast cancer and she vividly recalled that their dining room turned into a hospital room and helped her mom take care of her while she received chemo and radiation. Her aunt was placed in a nursing home until she eventually was put in a hospice care. Mel remembered all the small things she couldn’t do for herself and how the staff wasn't always around to help her. She took that into consideration now while taking care of her patients. It's the small things that really count. 

Mel states that she only does what any caring person would do as she believes in the Golden Rule "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".