Dawn Waugh distinguished herself as the best nurse to me that I have interacted with over these past 4+ years. While every nurse can do the basics - checking on patients, administering meds, etc., Dawn separated herself on two dimensions, ownership and empathy. Dawn became my nurse mid day of the second and last day of my most recent hospitalization. Immediately, I saw her ownership come through.

She came in the room, introduced herself, said she had met with the nurse whose shift was ending to understand what was going on, had already paged the doctors following up, and wanted to know if I needed anything or if she could help in any way. Wow - she was good!! Throughout the day and into the night, that ownership continued as she tried to get doctors to respond and escalated to higher level doctors/administrators seeking to get me the care and attention needed. Her dogged approach and determination made me truly feel that she was on my side.

Her empathy came through as well during our interactions. While I was disappointed, frustrated and angry that seemingly little was being done, you could almost sense that she was at times just as frustrated and disappointed with the lack of response as I was. She seemed to have put herself "in my shoes" and was going through this with me and truly cared. She didn't "fake it."

Frankly - had she not been there - I likely would be writing a different letter about how substandard my stay was. However, rather than dwell on the negatives, I wanted to shine the spotlight on someone who stood out instead.