Christina
Kimball
April 2024
Christina
Kimball
UW Oshkosh College of Nursing
Oshkosh
,
WI
United States

 

 

 

Christina continually answered call lights, IV beeps, and issues with patients, whether they were her's or not.
Christina Kimball is an exceptional nursing student. She always has a positive attitude and is one of the first to volunteer to help the healthcare team while in a clinical setting.

1. Christina has great empathy for her patients and is very nonjudgmental
2. She is dependable and personable and follows through on all commitments
3. She is a strong patient advocate and can stand up for what is right
4. She can think critically and initiate nursing interventions that improve patient outcomes

***

When I read the description of the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Students, I immediately think of Christina Kimball. She provides exceptional care to the patients she cares for (even those not assigned to her), goes above and beyond expectations, is incredibly knowledgeable, and is always willing to step up to help her classmates with their patients.

An example of Christina advocating for her patient- a patient received a new PICC before she got to the floor. She checked on her patient immediately after the staff RN completed the report and went to lunch. While Christina was completing her assessment, she found that the newly established PICC was hemorrhaging. She immediately applied pressure while ensuring that the patient was stable and kept her talking so as to continue to assess for shock. She called the CNA, who had to find the RN (who was at lunch). She held pressure for over 20 minutes, waiting for the RN was able to get into the room.

Interventional Radiology arrived and assessed and stated that the correct steps were taken, and the patient was ultimately unharmed. She also helped a fellow clinical student with his critical patient. She taught him how to complete a blood glucose check as symptoms were favorable for hypoglycemia. She taught him how to complete axillary temperature as the patient was lethargic and not coherent enough to open mouth for oral. Upon the temperature being extremely elevated, she showed him non-pharmacological methods that could be completed so we could look for the nurse to get meds to a lower temperature (ice packs behind knees, in armpits, behind neck, and in groin. Only covered with a sheet, lowered temperature in the room).

In addition, Christina continually answered call lights, IV beeps, and issues with patients, whether they were her's or not. She was always there to help with turns, boosts, toileting, transferring, etc. She demonstrated to her classmates that nursing is a team, not a single-person game. She included other clinical students in med passes with routes or medications they had not had a chance to see as to help further their education and experiences as well. Christina jumped in and helped in the ED during the off-unit as much as possible, whether it was with the nurse she was shadowing or not. Helped the head of ED discharge a patient and get them into their car. After Christina's off-unit experience in the ED, they offered her a job there! She always helped clinical classmates with their patients, explaining reasoning, skills, medications, how to chart, what to chart, where to find information in the chart, etc., in the EPIC EHR. I cannot even describe how much this student deserves this award!

***

I met Christina as a Soph II student - I knew right away that she was a woman of strength, knowledge, and multiple qualities necessary for not only nursing school but to be a high-quality nurse. It was my first semester teaching clinical at Aurora - and although I worked there as an L&D Nurse, she worked on a Med/Surg floor and helped me tremendously on the floor we were on. She assisted in helping me set up a cheat-sheet for the students with the call lights, documenting specific items in Epic, and being a Student Leader for her clinical partners with patient cares and clinical assignments.

Christina is the student that goes above and beyond, while working full-time and being a Mom. She has an approach about her where she can talk to anyone, find something in common with anyone, and knows when to reach out. She demonstrates all the values within the CON in her classes, clinicals, and at work. Christina, being a non-traditional student, has the experiences and clinical judgment that comes with life experiences. As a clinical instructor, I did not have any concerns/hesitancies with what room she was assigned to. The nurses on the floor knew her and trusted her, and the other students commented on how comfortable Christina was with patient communication, care, and documentation. She spent extra time washing the patient's hair, if needed, or getting the patient up if they wanted to sit in the chair to eat.

During post-conference, Christina was always able to tell more about her patient than just the medical things, and that is because she sat with the patient and talked with the patient and the patient's family. She was able to thoroughly complete her assignment with further information on the patient that may have been skimmed upon from others. Soph II clinical primarily focuses on therapeutic communication and completing a health history. Christina was able to provide all of her patient's the personal cares needed/desired and passed medications with confidence and worked with other students to improve on skills for cares.