Michelle Kaufman

It is my great pleasure to nominate Michelle Kaufman for the DAISY Award. Michelle has been providing extraordinary care to patients and families in the TCH NICU since 2002 and over the past 2 years as the Wound, Ostomy and Continence nurse.  Michelle developed a passion for helping families care for their babies with ostomies and this led her to develop the NICU Skin Care Committee with seven of her colleagues.  Her leadership and love for skin, led to the development of the house wide Save Our Skin (SOS) Committee, which she chaired and guided the participation in the CHCA collaborative for pressure ulcers.  In a remarkably short period of time Michelle implemented the Neonatal Skin Care Score in the NICU, developed a comprehensive website providing extensive educational materials to facilitate the nurses managing diaper dermatitis and ostomy care, evaluated and recommended appropriate skin care products and developed educational hand outs for families.  During this time, Michelle also developed a Skin Care Bundle to improve identification, prevention, and treatment of pressure ulcers and implemented a flow sheet in EPIC to determine risk factors. She also managed to find time to pursue a certification as a Wound Ostomy Continence nurse, published an article, and created two posters that have been nationally presented. It is no wonder that families and staff feel Michelle provides an extraordinary level of customer care.  Parents are so grateful for Michelle’s willingness to offer a helping hand (literally), her level of concern, understanding and commitment to their child’s particular skin care problems and this is easily understood as she supports many of these patients for years that have chronic skin disorders, such as EB.  Her gentleness, patience, and focus on comfort and expert knowledge is enduring to families and has led her to be one of the most highly regarded nurses by both patients, families and staff at TCH.  I cannot think of anyone who is more deserving than Michelle for such a wonderful honor.  She truly exemplifies the essence of a transformational nurse leader and has positively impacted hundreds of patients and families’ lives.