Jammie Reichel is an epitomic example of all aspects/criteria for the DAISY award. When I asked for feedback from my fellow staff members, I was inundated with examples of the selfless, compassionate service and professionalism that she provides to her staff, our patients, and their families. Jammie first started at TCH as a CA, then progressed through the ranks of New Grad, Clinical Coordinator, DEC, and Clinical Manager. She has won the respect and admiration of everyone around her in all of these positions. She strives tirelessly to ensure optimal outcomes for staff and patients alike. Despite her title of Inpatient Manager, she is no stranger to the bedside.
Above all, Jammie is most recognized for her incredible listening ability—not just hearing what you say, but truly listening and then she immediately goes to work to find a solution. Rather than list reasons why things are the way they are or why your idea won’t work, she brainstorms to create a winning solution. Upon noticing an increase in burnout and departure of experienced nurses from our floor due to the heightened emotional that our population has on nursing, Jammie brainstormed possible solutions to prevent further loss of experienced nurses. For example, to reduce staff fatigue/burnout during a very busy/high acuity period on our unit, she worked to implement a 6 hour shift. Though this was an unprecedented schedule option in the hospital, she encouraged staff to research literature and present a trial. This has resulted in lower burnout, happier nurses, and ultimately better patient care. As another example, one nurse went to her with a desire to create a split position between two units so that she could maintain critical care skills while providing care to oncology patient in order to accomplish her personal career goals. Jammie spearheaded the effort to create this unique position and was flexible in working with another manager to make this happen. Now both units benefit from the experience this nurse brings to the table. In addition, she is always coordinating schedule changes for people as need arises for reasons personal health or family emergencies; she never makes you feel like you are being a burden or it is a big hassle. She rounds with patients/families on a regular basis, hearing their concerns/problems related to their hospitalization. She immediately goes to action to fix problems or find a compromise for families. In a recent instance with a family who has been inpatient for the past 14 months with multiple complex medical issues and a complicated course including multiple transfers to the ICU, Jammie was constantly involved to ensure patient/family satisfaction and that the highest level of nursing care was being provided. She was always involved in their care conferences, listened to their concerns/input, and then set to work to coordinate excellent care. She arranged a dedicated team of consistent caregivers that the family was comfortable with to ease some of their stress. She also arranged additional training on External Ventricular Devices to make staff members more competent and comfortable in managing potential complications. She even approached this patient’s sibling with the possibility of enhancing our family conference room, allowing her an outlet to express her feelings through her artistic abilities. The result was a creative way for this sibling to grieve in the process of losing her brother and a much warmer setting for families to have difficult conversations. No matter how much Jammie has on her plate, she listens to you and makes you feel like your problem is the only thing she has going on.
In addition, Jammie is a workhorse. She always strives to be helpful in every aspect of the word. She is regularly seen on the floor at lunchtime covering for nurses so they can take a break. Recently, she stepped in during a code situation and was drawing up emergency medications. She comes in at 5am (or other equally inconvenient times for her) to do staff meetings for night shift so they don’t have to come in on the days off. Furthermore, she makes herself available 24/7. There have been several night shifts where things have turned south and Jammie has been called; she doesn’t just listen to the information—she asks if she needs to come in and help out. She is never perturbed in the least that she’s been woken up in the middle of the night on her “day off”. In her mind, she is on all the time. She’s not above doing any job—she’s been caught cleaning refrigerators, filling in at the ISS desk, and answering call lights. She devotes herself tirelessly to making things run smoothly and fulfilling the needs/expectations of all.
Her sense of selflessness and service is not limited to patients and families; she is equally available outside of work to meet personal needs of staff and peers. In one occurrence with a staff member undergoing treatment for cancer, Jammie organized a group to go and deep clean this person’s home and arranged for donation of installation/materials for hardwood floors. She has an incredibly positive attitude, and you can rely on her for anything…anytime. Her grace and poise amaze us all with everything she juggles on a daily basis. She balances multiple roles of mom, wife, manager, friend, and student and she does them all well. We could write another 10 pages of examples of all the ways she goes above and beyond in exemplifying the qualities of a DAISY award recipient, but hopefully this gets the point across. There is nobody more deserving.