July 2021
Jenny
DiGirlamo
,
BSN, RN, CPN
Neurology
Children's Mercy
Kansas City
,
MO
United States
Throughout my work with Jenny, she has been a role model nurse where advocacy for patients, excellence in customer care, and support to her team have been defining characters of her work ethic.
Jenny meets all the criteria of an excellent patient advocate, providing empathetic care using her specialized training. She has been a great addition to our Comprehensive Tuberous Sclerosis as a TS nurse coordinator. She plays a significant role in screening TS patients and streamlining their clinic appointments in coordination with TS providers. She helps the families coordinate their complex care, including arranging imaging, providing educational handouts, and coordinating care with other specialties. Her best traits are excellent work ethics and doing a perfect job professionally. I was able to see her outstanding mentorship role when she is nurturing her nursing colleagues. She has also contributed immensely as neurology inpatient coordinator, which is praiseworthy.
***
Jenny took on a new role in neurology as our inpatient nurse coordinator just when the pandemic was beginning. She hit the ground running after being well-trained by her predecessor and has really done an amazing job helping some of our most complicated patients get the expensive medicines they need outside the hospital covered by their insurance while coordinating follow-ups in clinic during a time when our calendars are more full than they have ever been. Not only does she do an amazing job in a complex role, but she takes on the role of helping these patients with a smile on her face even when our inpatient service is at its busiest. Our mission to be patient-centered in every action is exemplified by her work and we are so happy with what she has been able to do in this role.
***
Jenny is simply amazing. She goes above and beyond regularly to provide care to patients on the Gold team. She is a dedicated teacher for families when new medications are introduced.
***
Jenny has been extremely helpful as our inpatient coordinator. In addition to helping with patients during admission, she is fantastic at following up on any outstanding issues and making sure that all follow-up visits and labs are coordinated and communicated with families. One example is when I was called while on inpatient service regarding a patient who was not yet in our system but needed to be seen in a neurology clinic. She continued to follow up with the patient the next week, got them scheduled in the clinic, and made sure their chart was created so I could input information from my phone call before their visit. It’s so great having her on our team!
***
I have worked with Jenny for several years now. She has always been an exceptional nurse, but she truly showed her excellence when we asked her to take over as the Neurology Inpatient Nurse Coordinator. In that role, she ensures that the needs of children hospitalized with neurological issues are addressed. The needs of our patients are multiple and include getting urgent approvals for special treatments for potentially catastrophic illnesses, ensuring that the patients and their families have everything they need at the time of discharge, teaching the families about their child’s condition and how to administer the treatments once they get home.
Many of these illnesses are extremely anxiety-provoking for the parents, they include such disorders as infantile spasms, multiple sclerosis, CIDP, leukodystrophies, etc. Jenny has devoted herself to these families. She is always prepared to come and meet with a family, or to fight with insurance. She has an amazing gift to put the parents at ease, even in the scariest of circumstances, and to pressure the insurance companies in doing what is right for the families. It does not matter if it is Monday morning at 8 AM or Friday afternoon at 4 PM, Jenny is always prepared to be an advocate for the patients and their families. And she manages to do it gracefully and with a positive attitude that is contagious to the entire team. Jenny exemplifies all of the values that the DAISY Award stands for, compassion, dedication, and teamwork.
***
I have known Jenny now for a number of years. Throughout my work with Jenny, she has been a role model nurse where advocacy for patients, excellence in customer care, and support to her team have been defining characters of her work ethic. Jenny took on multiple initiatives in Neurology, coordinating inpatient service patients' care, coordinating the Tuberous Sclerosis program, not only to be one of few TS programs but to reach the highest accreditation by the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance.
In addition to her great knowledge of neurology and her willingness to spend the time needed for families to feel comfortable with the plan of care, Jenny has always been available to her team, one of the first people to offer help and always do it with a smile and in a very supportive manner. Through a tough year with a pandemic, Jenny went above and beyond to ensure her patients are well cared for, coordinating telemedicine visits, arranging for in-person appointments, and ensuring communications are nothing but the best. I give Jenny my full unrestricted support and am proud to be on the same team as her. She is a true living example of our vision, trying to create a world of wellbeing for all children.
***
Jenny is a strong nurse who helps manage and coordinate care for a busy inpatient service as well as two outpatient multidisciplinary clinics for patients with high needs and follow-up. She is very organized. She is dependable. She is compassionate with the patients and families with chronic illnesses. She consistently goes the extra mile to make sure patients get what they need. For example, staying late to get a medication prior authorization approved to ensure a patient would not be without epilepsy medications. She is a wonderful asset to our team.
***
Jenny took on a new role in neurology as our inpatient nurse coordinator just when the pandemic was beginning. She hit the ground running after being well-trained by her predecessor and has really done an amazing job helping some of our most complicated patients get the expensive medicines they need outside the hospital covered by their insurance while coordinating follow-ups in clinic during a time when our calendars are more full than they have ever been. Not only does she do an amazing job in a complex role, but she takes on the role of helping these patients with a smile on her face even when our inpatient service is at its busiest. Our mission to be patient-centered in every action is exemplified by her work and we are so happy with what she has been able to do in this role.
***
Jenny is simply amazing. She goes above and beyond regularly to provide care to patients on the Gold team. She is a dedicated teacher for families when new medications are introduced.
***
Jenny has been extremely helpful as our inpatient coordinator. In addition to helping with patients during admission, she is fantastic at following up on any outstanding issues and making sure that all follow-up visits and labs are coordinated and communicated with families. One example is when I was called while on inpatient service regarding a patient who was not yet in our system but needed to be seen in a neurology clinic. She continued to follow up with the patient the next week, got them scheduled in the clinic, and made sure their chart was created so I could input information from my phone call before their visit. It’s so great having her on our team!
***
I have worked with Jenny for several years now. She has always been an exceptional nurse, but she truly showed her excellence when we asked her to take over as the Neurology Inpatient Nurse Coordinator. In that role, she ensures that the needs of children hospitalized with neurological issues are addressed. The needs of our patients are multiple and include getting urgent approvals for special treatments for potentially catastrophic illnesses, ensuring that the patients and their families have everything they need at the time of discharge, teaching the families about their child’s condition and how to administer the treatments once they get home.
Many of these illnesses are extremely anxiety-provoking for the parents, they include such disorders as infantile spasms, multiple sclerosis, CIDP, leukodystrophies, etc. Jenny has devoted herself to these families. She is always prepared to come and meet with a family, or to fight with insurance. She has an amazing gift to put the parents at ease, even in the scariest of circumstances, and to pressure the insurance companies in doing what is right for the families. It does not matter if it is Monday morning at 8 AM or Friday afternoon at 4 PM, Jenny is always prepared to be an advocate for the patients and their families. And she manages to do it gracefully and with a positive attitude that is contagious to the entire team. Jenny exemplifies all of the values that the DAISY Award stands for, compassion, dedication, and teamwork.
***
I have known Jenny now for a number of years. Throughout my work with Jenny, she has been a role model nurse where advocacy for patients, excellence in customer care, and support to her team have been defining characters of her work ethic. Jenny took on multiple initiatives in Neurology, coordinating inpatient service patients' care, coordinating the Tuberous Sclerosis program, not only to be one of few TS programs but to reach the highest accreditation by the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance.
In addition to her great knowledge of neurology and her willingness to spend the time needed for families to feel comfortable with the plan of care, Jenny has always been available to her team, one of the first people to offer help and always do it with a smile and in a very supportive manner. Through a tough year with a pandemic, Jenny went above and beyond to ensure her patients are well cared for, coordinating telemedicine visits, arranging for in-person appointments, and ensuring communications are nothing but the best. I give Jenny my full unrestricted support and am proud to be on the same team as her. She is a true living example of our vision, trying to create a world of wellbeing for all children.
***
Jenny is a strong nurse who helps manage and coordinate care for a busy inpatient service as well as two outpatient multidisciplinary clinics for patients with high needs and follow-up. She is very organized. She is dependable. She is compassionate with the patients and families with chronic illnesses. She consistently goes the extra mile to make sure patients get what they need. For example, staying late to get a medication prior authorization approved to ensure a patient would not be without epilepsy medications. She is a wonderful asset to our team.