I am nominating Holly Perri for the DAISY award for her tireless actions as an advocate for a patient and the patient's mother. Holly was caring for this 16 year old male admitted with a throat abscess. He was a direct admit the day prior from ENT clinic. As the Clinical Leader, Holly was accompanying me and two guest rounders for our Culture Hour rounds. As we approached the room, Holly informed the group that the mother was upset because of a potential discharge and some confusion with the plan of care. During the Culture Hour rounds, the mom explained her son's repeated strep throat occurrences, multiple ED visits, and OR cancellations. The events she described would cause any parent great anxiety. Through the course of her description, she gave credit to Holly for being what a nurse should be...the kind of nurse who stands up for her patients and families. She thanked Holly for what she had done for them that morning. Holly told her that she would be there throughout the day to advocate and get the help she needed to understand the plan of care. Holly spent time contacting the senior resident and the attending and explaining mom's anxiety and frustration. When Holly felt she wasn't being heard, she also enlisted the support of the Patient Representative. Holly felt she still had more to do for this patient and family and called to speak to the ENT Attending as she was not convinced they knew what was happening. The medical team was not happy with Holly as they felt she was delaying the discharge and "feeding into the mom's anxiety" but the ENT attending asked that the child not be discharged as he wanted to come up and speak to both the mother and the child. Holly did everything in her power to advocate for the patient and family to get the explanations/rationales/treatment plan to them.

The mother's parting words from our Culture Hour visit regarding Holly: "She is not the kind of nurse who just gives meds and does vital signs. She is truly what a nurse should be."