Jennifer is the very definition of a nurse. She is hard working, a team player, and very kind. She has one of the biggest hearts for her co-workers, patients, and their families.
Jennifer is always smiling. No matter what kind of day she is having she just keeps a positive attitude and keeps smiling. No matter if she is busy with the patients that are assigned to her she truly believes that all patients are ours. Jennifer is always there to lend a hand to her fellow co-workers.
I could write and tell you many experiences I have witnessed with Jennifer and what makes her a DAISY Nurse, but the time that stands out most in my mind is the day she took her co-worker's patient to Skilled Nursing so he could help baptize a church member.
Jennifer had the patient the day before. The patient told her that he was a preacher and that there would be a baptism at Skilled Nursing the next day. Jennifer told him if it was ok with the doctor and he was not having any major problems then she would do her best to take him to Skilled. Shortly after their conversation, the patient ended up in ICU.
The next day the patient got transferred back to MedSurg. He had specifically asked for Jennifer to be his nurse. Due to the discharges and the number of patients Jennifer already had, the patient went into another nurse's assignment. Even though Jennifer had her own assignment she still took the patient over to the baptism. I walked over with them just to make sure everything was ok with the patient and that Jennifer didn't need any help. Jennifer stayed by the patient's side the whole time. To see the patient, his family, and Jenn's eyes light up was overwhelming and very touching. Everyone was crying, tears of joy. The patient and his family kept thanking Jennifer.
On the way back up to MedSurg the patient's wife felt faint in the elevator. We got her a wheelchair. She refused to go to the ER. We got her back to the patient's room Jennifer stayed right with her. She got the wife a cool washrag, fanned her off to get her cooled off. She checked her VS and got her a snack. She stayed with the wife until she felt better. Then she went right back at it doing things for the patients in her assignment.
Jennifer did all these things knowing that this patient wasn't assigned to her, knowing that she could be getting behind in her assignment or not knowing if all of a sudden the unit would become really busy with admissions.
With nursing, it seems that everyone is in a hurry to get what needs to be done, not saying that nurses don't take care of their patients. We have excellent nurses on MedSurg and throughout our facility. With Jennifer, she gets done what needs to be done with patients and families but she goes that extra mile to go above and beyond. She truly is a Godsend to our facility, our unit, and our patients. This is why she is a DAISY Nurse!