Jenna Lang is coming up on her 1 year anniversary at the Denver Health Nurseline. She has shown great care for patients and has recently taken on the role of relief charge nurse. She is consistent in her empathy for the patients who call the Nurseline and she recently went above and beyond for a patient.
Jenna had a patient call the Nurseline who had been seen for a severe kidney infection the day before at the Urgent Care. The patient was 17 and did not have transportation and called due to losing the bottle with her antibiotics earlier that day. Jenna called and spoke to an Emergency Room doctor who agreed that it was imperative that the patient continue the medications and not miss any doses. The doctor approved the order for the medication for the patient. The patient was able to go to the closest pharmacy and pick up the medication, but the patient did not have her insurance ID number and the pharmacy would not release the antibiotics. Jenna was able to call benefits and coordinate the number to be sent to the pharmacy so the medication could be picked up. Jenna then went another step further and was able to provide a coupon code to the pharmacy to decrease the cost of the medication to an affordable rate for the patient. The patient was able to go home and not miss any doses and the Nurseline was able to make sure the patient was continuing to feel better 2 days later on a callback.
Jenna could have easily told the patient to go back to the Emergency Department and try to get a new prescription written. She could have quickly finished the call and moved on but she spent over an hour helping one patient get what she needed. She helped avoid an unnecessary visit and was able to assist the patient with decreasing the cost of the medication at the pharmacy. She spent the time to facilitate the medication, the insurance ID, and the coupon so that one adolescent patient could continue to heal at home. She also did this in a timely manner knowing that if a kidney infection is not treated quickly it can cause permanent damage to the kidneys and many times, hospitalization. I think Jenna exemplified critical thinking and all of Denver Health's values in this case and she should be recognized for her hard work. I would hope if I called or one of my family called the Nurseline that they would get a caring nurse like Jenna who would provide the best care to them. I know many calls are ones that cannot be solved over the phone but Jenna showed the excellent work that can be produced from the Advice Nurseline and save the organization and the patient time and money. I hope we all can have the thoughtful heart that Jenna has to care for each patient in a way that makes them feel that Denver Health provides excellent customer service to anyone who needs our help.