Ellen Bandy served as one of my night preceptors and I still look to her as a nursing colleague that I look up to both professionally and personally.
Regarding Patient and Family recognitions - patients and family alike love this woman. Ellen is someone that patients will adopt into their family. And likewise, Ellen does the same for them. She calls her more senior patients "momma" when appropriate. And she has said to me about challenging patients and family members that you just got to "love them where they are at." Isn't that so true? You may be able to heal physical ailments, but you can't fix or heal patients emotionally during their hospital stay, you just have to meet them where they are.
Compassion and professionalism are Ellen's hallmark attitudes. She is compassionate to all patients and nurses in their situation. She is a professional that quickly assesses the situation and then finds what will make the situation better for all. Whether it is a staff member who is sick or a patient who is very ill, she manages it all with a smile and with relative ease.
Ellen's "can do" attitude is infectious. When she is charge on the unit, she walks around the unit asking if the staff members are ok, and asks each nurse if their assignment is manageable. Even when the unit is busy, and she has to take patients, she adopts an attitude of "we are going to make it through, just like we always do." Furthermore, she knows the pulse of the unit and tells fellow nurses when they go on break, "to run and be free." This is what you need to hear in an intense environment such as ours.
This leads me to her ability to problem-solve unusual and complex needs. She does this with charge responsibilities and with complex patients. I remember Ellen had a patient whose physical assessment was "unchanged" but she knew that something was not right with the patient. She raised the issue to the medical team, and she asked them to come to the bedside and physically assess the patient for themselves. She was unable to get a sufficient response. She kept raising the issue until finally the medical team rounded in the morning, and the intensivist praised Ellen's assessment skills. She is an excellent clinician.
Ellen has an ongoing commitment to quality and safety. Ellen will be the first to tell you that nursing needs to stop reinventing the wheel. She wants things to be simplified so that we all can do what we do best - promote quality care and safety for our patients.