Elsie Dumlao, RN, was nominated for the DAISY Award by her coworkers on 4 East/West for the extraordinary care of a surgical patient.
Elsie Dumlao deserves the DAISY Award not only for consistently displaying outstanding clinical skills but also for the intangible elements which constitute a compassionate nurse. One example (of many) immediately comes to mind…
A couple of weeks ago, Elsie was caring for a young patient with a partial small bowel obstruction, naso-gastric tube and all. Elsie had developed a rapport with this patient by caring for her the previous day. The patient also suffered from extreme panic disorder and anxiety and began to escalate. Soon, she was shrieking down the hallway, “I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE. I WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!” By the time Elsie ran to the room, the patient was on the floor, pulled into a fetal position, crying and screaming. To add to this scene, blood was everywhere – the patient had pulled out her intravenous line; her vein was open and bleeding profusely. Elsie immediately went to the patient, sat down on the floor with her, and pulled her into a comforting embrace, cradling and rocking her, softly reassuring her everything would be fine. The patient calmed and we were able to get her bleeding to stop and resume her treatment.