Diana is an amazing RN with unique abilities to help our pediatric population feel less anxious before their procedure or diagnostic scans. This population often has multiple medical issues and some have cognitive difficulties. She thinks of ways to help alleviate anxiety. Here are a couple of examples. A patient with a cognitive disability needed an MRI with anesthesia. The parents told her it takes multiple people to hold her down to be able to anesthetize her. Diana told them "we will try something different today." She asked the patient if she would like to walk on her own to MRI, which the patient happily did with her parents. In MRI the nurse had the dad lie on the gurney and then asked the patient to lie down with him, which she did. Then anesthesia was able to provide medication to relax the patient and the patient had the scan. The parents were very happy and expressed this to the nurse. They said it normally takes about 5 people to hold her down.
A second example was a young lady who needed an MRI with anesthesia and of course, she was scared. The nurse asked her if she like princesses, she said "yes." So, Diana said, 'would you like to be in a princess parade?' She said, "yes," so she taught her how to wave like a princess and they walked together to MRI waving to everyone, as Diana announced, "this is a princess parade," so people in the hallway would wave back at them.
She always puts the patient and family needs first and tries to be creative to help the patients feel less anxious. The parents express their gratitude to her too. She is a very skilled nurse and she is always willing to help out others that need it. She is a big support to our anesthesia team to help make the procedure less stressful for everyone.