Crystal Koch

Crystal is passionate about patient care in every aspect. She delivers expert care to her tiny patients and provides excellent support to her colleagues.  Her professional standards are of the highest caliber.  One example of Crystal’s leadership and dedication is the Car Seat Program.  She has taken the lead to develop and sustain an exemplary program for Car Seat Safety practices, equipment recommendation and family education.  With her colleagues, she provides consistent, up-to-date information and evidence-based curriculum for nurses and families when preparing for discharge of vulnerable premature infants.  Crystal gathers local, regional and national information and we all rely on her to follow and track the products best suited for our patients.  Her teaching with families is flawless, whether at the bedside, in a class or through an interpreter.  Crystal and her colleagues have taken on the challenge of designing and implementing a tool for accurate documentation of a complex nursing evaluation on premature infants.  Designed to demonstrate the infant’s ability to tolerate prolonged periods in the car seat without respiratory compromise, the tool provides cues to the nurses completing the test, has educational content for the family and records the process for the medical record.  Crystal exudes a passion for her practice celebrated by the DAISY Award and I believe she embodies the art of nursing we all strive to emulate.