Britney frequently goes above and beyond for the patients and families she serves. Recently, she provided new diagnosis education for a patient who was diagnosed with leukemia. This patient faced many barriers to this education including English as his second language, illiterate family members and extremely limited resources supporting medication adherence. She collaborated with the case manager to have his prescription medications delivered to the hospital and taught him to fill a pill organizer. With the pill organizer, she created a medication chart that specified when and why to take each medication. In order to overcome the language and literacy barriers, she associated pictures and color-coded the time of day to administer each medication. Finally, she collaborated with the outpatient nursing navigator to have a follow up with him during his outpatient clinic visits. The patient was so well prepared for discharge, that he could easily explain to the provider team each aspect of his home care.
This is just one example of the high standard Britney sets for patient and family education at Children's. She works to expand her role to other areas and often has nurses from our department, and others, to shadow her. As a member of the care team, she ensures that patients are well prepared for their overall treatment and are able to care for themselves at home. She proactively seeks out staff members to continue following up with patients when she is not scheduled to ensure there is no lapse in patient and family support.
She positively affects change throughout the system through her work as a shared leadership representative at the unit and system level. As the chair of the Patient & Family Experience council, she mentors the members of her committee and advocates for the new model of information sharing between bedside nurses and nursing leadership.