August 2021
Ana
Mulhern
,
RN
Westchester
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
Chicago
,
IL
United States
Although it is not her job, Ana is on the phone with the insurance company, going up the chain to get approval for this procedure.
Ana Mulhern is definitely an amazing nurse who consistently goes above and beyond in providing compassionate care in a knowledgeable way! Ana has been one of the primary nurses coordinating care for the dermatology clinics at Westchester for the past 19 years.
As her manager, I’ve seen her selfless ways of giving and caring for children and their families and our staff/team, but was especially moved when reading peer feedback for Ana’s mid-year review at just how incredible this nurse really is. Here is what they have had to say about her:
“Ann is one of the most compassionate nurses I have ever met. Her genuine care for our patients is palpable, and our patients definitely know it. Often when families call, they will only want to speak with Ann, as they’ve had such compassionate service from her in the past. If she is not available, they’ll tell me how she went out of the way for their child to ensure s/he were seen in a timely manner, was referred to the right specialist, that their surgeries with other specialties were scheduled on the same day, etc. There is not much Ann wouldn’t do for our patients and their families, and this is an absolute asset to Westchester.”
“Ana has said numerous times we don’t care who the patient is or where they come from, we will provide the same care for each child.”
“She is amazing with the patients and their families and to staff. She is a family advocate and always puts patients’ needs and their safety first.”
“Ann has told me many times over that her philosophy to dealing with difficult people is to just let everything bounce off her because someday she’ll probably need someone’s help too.”
“With Ann, there are never any hard feelings. I love her enthusiasm for this job, even after so many years.”
From their comments, you can see that Ana never has a negative thing to say about others and always tries to see the good in everyone. To illustrate how Ana gives of herself in advocating for our patients/families, here are a couple of examples:
This patient E is on Dupixent, which needs to be injected every month. Typically, we have the family come in twice at the beginning to do the teaching. The first month, we teach and then we do the injection. In the second month, we review, but the parent does the injection. Ana has been working with this mother, who is afraid of needles. Ana met with this patient’s mom for 5 months to ensure she was comfortable giving the shot and offering words of encouragement. She took the time to educate the patient as well (a teenager who gives his mom a really hard time) about why it’s important to use the correct technique for administration and encouraged him to have patience with his mom.
The mom is so appreciative of her support. Mom has been able to give the shot herself for 2 months, but she still calls Ana to report how it went and thank her for her support.
This patient D has a severely atypical mole and was referred by an adult dermatologist for excision because of the location over many tendons on his hand. The patient’s insurance, however, is denying benefits because Dr. W is out of network. The in-network provider referred the case to Dr. W because of its complexity and the significance of atypia. The procedure was canceled once already because of this issue.
Although it is not her job, Ana is on the phone with the insurance company, going up the chain to get approval for this procedure. She spent more than two hours, working her way up the chain of command with this insurance company. Dr. W is out of the office this morning and we have a busy clinic, so Ana has taken this on herself. This scenario demonstrates the lengths she goes to for our patients. She then got on the phone with the mom explaining the situation that her insurance/cost-sharing network will not cover the cost of this procedure. Of course, the mom is terribly worried about the potential of cancer, and Ana is so kind and patient to answer all the questions she can and refer mom to patient financial services to help her figure out how to pay for this procedure out of pocket.
Although these are just two recent examples, you can be assured that there are countless more over the course of 19 years in this role. I’m confident that the information above illustrates how Ana puts the needs of our patients/families and her teammates first. Dr. W says it best when she describes that Ana, “gives her all for everyone, all the time.”
As her manager, I’ve seen her selfless ways of giving and caring for children and their families and our staff/team, but was especially moved when reading peer feedback for Ana’s mid-year review at just how incredible this nurse really is. Here is what they have had to say about her:
“Ann is one of the most compassionate nurses I have ever met. Her genuine care for our patients is palpable, and our patients definitely know it. Often when families call, they will only want to speak with Ann, as they’ve had such compassionate service from her in the past. If she is not available, they’ll tell me how she went out of the way for their child to ensure s/he were seen in a timely manner, was referred to the right specialist, that their surgeries with other specialties were scheduled on the same day, etc. There is not much Ann wouldn’t do for our patients and their families, and this is an absolute asset to Westchester.”
“Ana has said numerous times we don’t care who the patient is or where they come from, we will provide the same care for each child.”
“She is amazing with the patients and their families and to staff. She is a family advocate and always puts patients’ needs and their safety first.”
“Ann has told me many times over that her philosophy to dealing with difficult people is to just let everything bounce off her because someday she’ll probably need someone’s help too.”
“With Ann, there are never any hard feelings. I love her enthusiasm for this job, even after so many years.”
From their comments, you can see that Ana never has a negative thing to say about others and always tries to see the good in everyone. To illustrate how Ana gives of herself in advocating for our patients/families, here are a couple of examples:
This patient E is on Dupixent, which needs to be injected every month. Typically, we have the family come in twice at the beginning to do the teaching. The first month, we teach and then we do the injection. In the second month, we review, but the parent does the injection. Ana has been working with this mother, who is afraid of needles. Ana met with this patient’s mom for 5 months to ensure she was comfortable giving the shot and offering words of encouragement. She took the time to educate the patient as well (a teenager who gives his mom a really hard time) about why it’s important to use the correct technique for administration and encouraged him to have patience with his mom.
The mom is so appreciative of her support. Mom has been able to give the shot herself for 2 months, but she still calls Ana to report how it went and thank her for her support.
This patient D has a severely atypical mole and was referred by an adult dermatologist for excision because of the location over many tendons on his hand. The patient’s insurance, however, is denying benefits because Dr. W is out of network. The in-network provider referred the case to Dr. W because of its complexity and the significance of atypia. The procedure was canceled once already because of this issue.
Although it is not her job, Ana is on the phone with the insurance company, going up the chain to get approval for this procedure. She spent more than two hours, working her way up the chain of command with this insurance company. Dr. W is out of the office this morning and we have a busy clinic, so Ana has taken this on herself. This scenario demonstrates the lengths she goes to for our patients. She then got on the phone with the mom explaining the situation that her insurance/cost-sharing network will not cover the cost of this procedure. Of course, the mom is terribly worried about the potential of cancer, and Ana is so kind and patient to answer all the questions she can and refer mom to patient financial services to help her figure out how to pay for this procedure out of pocket.
Although these are just two recent examples, you can be assured that there are countless more over the course of 19 years in this role. I’m confident that the information above illustrates how Ana puts the needs of our patients/families and her teammates first. Dr. W says it best when she describes that Ana, “gives her all for everyone, all the time.”