On a daily basis, Jacie develops relationships with her patients explaining options for care, discussing discharge plans, and helping them navigate the complex world of insurance and the continuum of care. She is tireless in her efforts to support our patients and their families through difficult healthcare transitions.
Our physicians and staff have a great deal of respect for Jacie as she is an excellent communicator, is well organized in her work, and is a compassionate individual who presents issues to our patients in a very calm reassuring way. As a former bedside nurse, Jacie is tuned in to the personal needs of patients,sensing their anxiety and fears, and does a great job of kindly outlining the care issues, decisionsto be made, andthe options to consider.Our physicians rely on Jacie to proactively work with our complex cases and bring families together to understand the issues to achieve resolution.
Some of the significant contributions Jacie makes to the profession besides her role as case manager include her extra duties. Jacie is our advocate for organ and tissue donation. She provides information and educates our staff regarding communication with families at the time of death and then ultimately reviews each record to assure the appropriate questions have been asked so that if there is a donor opportunity, it will not be missed.
Jacie also audits our hospital records for CMS Core Measures. She reviews all our surgical records for surgical care infection prevention standards, both surgical and medical records for venous thrombo-embolism prevention, and most recently has added the OB core measures to her list. This is very important work for the organization and Jacie is meticulous in her review to assure the documentation accurately reflects completion of our standards in each of these measures. Jacie also tutors the staff on quality and core measures so that the nurses understand the importance of detail in documentation and the best in evidence based practice.
Jacie worked diligently to enroll all of our patients in the new electronic health care portal. She educated them on what this was and how it could assistthem incontactingtheir physicians, viewingtheir health care record, and sending messages electronically through the portal. She did this not only for medical surgical patients, but also in obstetrics.
Jacie works with nursing students on a regular basis, helping them to understand the world of case management. She shows them how expert bedside nursing and case management are integral to assure the best outcome for our patients. The dynamics of this role are ever changing as insurance companies revise policies or rules. Jacie is a great example to them on remaining flexible as she interacts with the companies in order to best advocate for her patients.
Jacie is an excellent role model for students and young nurses in that she thoroughly understands the medical management of patients in the medical surgical setting and sets a high bar for advocacy and goal setting so that patients will have the optimal outcome. She conducts interdisciplinary rounds daily with all the disciplines in the organization including pharmacy, nutrition, physical and respiratory therapy, spiritual services, post-acute care and social services. This is the ultimate leadership role for nursing and she does it expertly.
Jacie once made a follow up phone call to one of her patients and found the patient did not have the prescribed medication needed for her condition. She verified with the physician that a prescription was provided to the patient and then contacted the pharmacy to verify that it was received and dispensed to the patient. She then re-called the patient and informed her that all this had been done only to find that the patient did not have the medication. She then took it upon herself to go to the home and discovered the medication was still in the patient's vehicle. After locating the medication, Jacie instructed the patient on how to take the medication and set it up for her to self-administer correctly. This was a challenging case and Jacie probably avoided an unnecessary ED visit or readmission.