Ashley was my mother's nurse for several days during her week stay on the 3rd Floor this month. Ashley stood out, not only for the excellence of her clinical care but for her ability to communicate with both my father and my family members. We were continually impressed by the way Ashley seemed to go above and beyond the call of duty in all aspects of her job. Not only is she very good at what she does, she seems to love it. Her obvious passion for nursing comes through in everything she does.
First and foremost, we were impressed by Ashley's level of competence and by her communication skills. When my mother was not responsive and my family obviously very confused about what was going on, Ashley was the only nurse that was able to calm us down. From that day forward, whenever Ashley was on duty I could see myself and family visibly relax. This is largely because whenever a problem arose, Ashley seemed to know exactly what to do to solve the program and get my mother comfortable again. Instead of dismissing my family's concerns, Ashley would take the extra time to truly listen to what we were saying and then make some sort of adjustment, often something small, that would make a world of difference to my mother's comfort.
I think it is this ability to listen and to communicate, in a nonpatronizing way, but in a way that indicates she respects her patients and wants them to be as involved and informed as much as possible about their own care. That makes Ashley such an invaluable staff member. She treats family members and visitors with this same level of kindness, attention, and respect. She seems to have endless patience for answering patient and family questions without seeming rushed or annoyed. Even better, she often anticipates questions and answers them before anyone thinks to ask them. She always told us exactly what was going on and why that particular action needed to be taken. She also always took the time to explain why whatever treatment or care option the doctors had chosen was the best thing to do.
Finally, Ashley was also incredible advocate for my mother. She always asked if there was anything she could do to make my mother more comfortable. My family was so grateful to Ashley for intervening on my mother's behalf.
It is these kinds of "extra" efforts (and there are many more stories like this one) in addition to her competence at everything she does that makes her a true DAISY Nurse.
Thank you, Ashley, you will always be remembered and loved by our family.