This nurse seems to take every challenge with a smile. The first floor is full of critically ill children, often who require frequent vital signs, constant monitoring, and sadly, are often alone. Recently, this nurse had a large amount of very high acuity children that most would crack under pressure. Not only does she rise to every single occasion, but when she is with the families, she finds a way to connect with them and make them feel seen and heard. I have witnessed her giving up time for breaks or lunch to help soothe children who are alone. She makes sure that when the snack cart is filled, she goes and retrieves the kids’ favorite snacks before adults pick it over.  While these may seem like small little ways to help our patients, the specialized care she provides makes the customer satisfaction so much better.

On top of all the amazing patient care she provides, she takes and cares for the unit. Recently, one of the units’ favorite physicians moved away.  She took time out of her schedule on a day she was planning to go see her mom, who is dealing with cancer, to put together a going away party for the physician. She got special decorations, brought in the cake, and really took time to make sure he knew what he meant to all of us and that he would be very missed.

This nurse is a model employee and really takes every challenge and runs with it. She precepts new nurses and helps them learn the floor, and brings a sense of welcome that not all staff can. She is not only one of my favorite nurses on the unit but someone who made me feel welcomed and part of a family. Thank you for how much you care for the patients, the families, and the staff who have become family.

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This nurse is truly the best nurse I know.  Not only does she have five amazing years of experience under her belt, but her compassion and care provided far exceeds that of many nurses. She stays late and makes sure everything is taken care of to provide the best care. Of note, recently, she had a 1013 patient who was suicidal, and throughout the day, she was so kind and gentle with them. These patients are truly delicate and need so much compassion and no judgement. They picked the perfect nurse, and throughout the day, there were no safety or behavioral concerns due to her loving nature. As shift change rolled around, it was time to discharge the patient to an outpatient facility. When she did this, care coordination did not submit most of the 30-page paperwork required to ensure a safe and fast transition for the patient. Instead of throwing it to another nurse or spending much of the patient’s valuable time finding care coordination, she decided to stay late and help the family complete all the paperwork to ensure this patient got the best care needed. You could see the parents were so thankful and gave her a hug and were able to go.  

Another example of her detail to care was an extremely medically complex child who had parents who were sadly not taking the right care of the child. This nurse (discharge queen) was ready to send them home, and she wanted to ensure all medications were ready for the patient at home and care was not withheld or delayed. Dad verified he had the medications, and they discharged. Fifteen minutes after leaving, the courier delivered the medications Dad swore he had.  This nurse went into superwoman mode and called the dad to have him come get them. Dad refused to come back (sadly, this happens with noncompliant patients), and this nurse immediately went to social work to ensure a DFCS referral was started to ensure this child did not have medical neglect.  These types of events are common for this nurse. She spends hours doing extra little things to ensure patients always get the highest level of care.