January 2011
Cathy
Dunbar
,
RN, BSN, PCCN
4 South -- Post-Intervention Telemetry
SCL Health Saint Joseph Hospital
Denver
,
CO
United States

 

 

 

Nomination #1
My father, J.Z., had the singular good fortune to be cared for by Cathy Dunbar, RN, on a recent admission. I would like to see the professionalism, compassion, and excellence of care provided by Ms. Dunbar recognized with the Daisy Award.

Ms. Dunbar’s manner immediately, and at all times, gave us confidence that my dad was in competent and caring hands. His case and his history are fairly complex, at least to us, and she took the time to review notes from previous admissions and addressed any “unfinished business” and lingering concerns he had whenever possible. Any questions or discrepancies we could think of were quickly and thoroughly researched and answered.

All my dad wanted was for someone to “get” him and to take real ownership of his care. My dad would have found it exhausting to be subjected to the all-too-typical necessity of “reinventing the wheel” with an endless succession of people who pop into his room for a few seconds, thereafter to vanish. My dad was fortunate enough to be in her care for several days. Her discharge instructions (He is on 10 medications) should have been videotaped for presentation to nursing students. I was happy to see that while she was compassionate at all times, she leveled with him in best teaching fashion and did not mince words or shy away from the words “congestive heart failure”. My dad needs to understand and accept his condition, and I was sure he accepted it better when it came from her, after she so perfectly demonstrated her trustworthiness to him.

Working 12-hour shifts, Cathy must have been exhausted, but she never gave that impression to us, and she never failed to check his armband and ask his name and birth date when giving his medication. As a former head of hospital transfusion service, I give her high marks for that. I’m sure Ms. Dunbar would say that she was just doing her job, but her standard of care was, I believe, so far above what we have come to accept nowadays that she deserves recognition with the Daisy Award.

Nomination #2
I have had the misfortune of being hospitalized some 12 times. I have always paid attention to how nurses performed, as my sister was a nurse. I have had good, not so good, and very good nurses. Never have I had the benefit of such exceptional care taken as Cathy Dunbar. Professional, caring, compassionate, thorough, helpful, and always smiling. She, in my judgment, epitomizes the ideal, the person every patient would be at ease and confident with.

Nomination #3
Cathy was truly great while caring for my husband. She was not only very knowledgeable but also kind and understanding. She has true nursing skills and cooperated with everyone on the medical team. She made sure that our daughter and I knew all that was transpiring. She truly deserves the Daisy Award.