We had a pediatric surgical patient on our unit for several days who was not tolerating her hospital stay. The staff did not seem particularly enthused to have to be taking care of this patient as at times this patient was perceived to be very demanding. Barb felt empathetic towards this patient and thought to herself this must be awful for them. Barb bought a small gift and brought it in for the patient to keep and play with throughout their stay in hopes of making it better.
Barb fulfills the role of Charge Nurse with grace. Often times she has to deal with difficult patients, families and sometimes even team members. Recently she had a new team member that she was orienting and it was recognized that this new team member was struggling quite a lot. Barb brought this to the attention of the resource nurse and nurse manager who then accompanied her to a "progress meeting" where Barb was able to put aside her frustrations with precepting and give this new nurse some feedback that was very difficult to both give, and for that new nurse to receive. We were impressed.
I walked into a room recently to check on a patient because this patient had been screaming for hours (due to dementia). It seemed like the nurses had tried everything. When I entered, Barb was knelt down in front of this patient holding her hand trying to verbally calm her.
Barb co-chairs the 2 West Unit Council. Barb is constantly thinking outside of the box and looking for innovative ways to create positive outcomes. Not all of our ideas are great but when we fail, we still learn and from that we move forward. So far this year Barb has led the change in documentation times which afforded the day shift nurses more time with their patients.
She is patient. She is assertive. She is empathetic. She is compassionate. She is motivated and driven.