Joanie Kruger
May 2022
Joanie
Kruger
,
LPN
CentraCare Urology Clinic
CentraCare - Ambulatory Care
St. Cloud
,
MN
United States
Joanie possesses a number of character traits that allow her to stand out among her nursing peers. These include the highest sense of compassion and empathy for all patients, the strongest commitment to excellence in urology patient care, and superb leadership skills.
I have had the pleasure of working with Joanie since she joined Adult and Pediatric Urology (APU) as an LPN in 2004 and continuing through today as part of CentraCare Urology. Joanie works with all of the Urology providers (MDs and PAs) and is currently the primary nurse for two doctors and one PA. Joanie is instrumental in running the urology providers’ clinic, working directly with patients and also with ancillary staff such as scheduling, lab, health information, etc to maintain the highest quality urology care with an efficient patient flow. Joanie also works on the urology phone line, where she does an outstanding job of handling patient concerns and questions, and relaying to patients various clinical results and other medical information. Through all of these complex tasks, she does an amazing job with respect to providing the highest level of patient experience. Simply stated, Joanie is a truly remarkable individual. She is warm, friendly, and has a wonderful caring attitude.
She possesses a number of character traits that allow her to stand out among her nursing peers. These include the highest sense of compassion and empathy for all patients, the strongest commitment to excellence in urology patient care, and superb leadership skills. Joanie seems to have boundless energy and uses that to take exceptional care of clinic patients, from the first patient of the day to the very last on the schedule.
Another essential character trait that sets Joanie apart from others is her adaptability. Joanie was instrumental in APU’s move from the old Northway Drive clinic location to the new Northwest Professional Center location in Sartell. Joanie was able to navigate with ease the untold complexities of multiple EMR changes—NextGen to Urochart and ultimately to Epic when APU joined CentraCare in 2015. And speaking of adaptability, Joanie handled with great professionalism and grace, the personal stress and uncertainty involved in the transition from APU to CentraCare as employer.
As we all know, Covid-19 emerged and over the past 2 years has necessitated unprecedented changes to medical care and clinic operations. Once again, Joanie has stood out with remarkable resilience and adaptability to these changes including masking and assisting patients with setting up virtual visits. Urology, like all of medicine, is constantly changing and Joanie is able to readily adapt to, and help develop, the new strategies and processes that keep us at the forefront of clinical urology. Joanie has embraced the concept of lifelong learning in urology nursing. She has achieved and maintained advanced urology nursing certification through the Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates. In my opinion, it is the amazing skills of urology nurses like Joanie that have contributed significantly to the recent US News national ranking of St. Cloud Hospital as #33 in Urology. Joanie is a model CentraCare employee and sets the bar in terms of employee performance, values and culture. Joanie is a pleasure to work with and, as any urology provider will tell you, a day in the clinic with Joanie as your nurse means it will be a great day!
As I think of the 2022 DAISY Award, I recall the kids' game of “she loves me, she loves me not” while plucking the petals off of a Daisy. If a patient coming to the urology clinic was concerned about whether he/she would be treated well by nursing staff, the patient would find that Joanie’s petals are ONLY “she loves me.” She is a true DAISY Nurse.
She possesses a number of character traits that allow her to stand out among her nursing peers. These include the highest sense of compassion and empathy for all patients, the strongest commitment to excellence in urology patient care, and superb leadership skills. Joanie seems to have boundless energy and uses that to take exceptional care of clinic patients, from the first patient of the day to the very last on the schedule.
Another essential character trait that sets Joanie apart from others is her adaptability. Joanie was instrumental in APU’s move from the old Northway Drive clinic location to the new Northwest Professional Center location in Sartell. Joanie was able to navigate with ease the untold complexities of multiple EMR changes—NextGen to Urochart and ultimately to Epic when APU joined CentraCare in 2015. And speaking of adaptability, Joanie handled with great professionalism and grace, the personal stress and uncertainty involved in the transition from APU to CentraCare as employer.
As we all know, Covid-19 emerged and over the past 2 years has necessitated unprecedented changes to medical care and clinic operations. Once again, Joanie has stood out with remarkable resilience and adaptability to these changes including masking and assisting patients with setting up virtual visits. Urology, like all of medicine, is constantly changing and Joanie is able to readily adapt to, and help develop, the new strategies and processes that keep us at the forefront of clinical urology. Joanie has embraced the concept of lifelong learning in urology nursing. She has achieved and maintained advanced urology nursing certification through the Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates. In my opinion, it is the amazing skills of urology nurses like Joanie that have contributed significantly to the recent US News national ranking of St. Cloud Hospital as #33 in Urology. Joanie is a model CentraCare employee and sets the bar in terms of employee performance, values and culture. Joanie is a pleasure to work with and, as any urology provider will tell you, a day in the clinic with Joanie as your nurse means it will be a great day!
As I think of the 2022 DAISY Award, I recall the kids' game of “she loves me, she loves me not” while plucking the petals off of a Daisy. If a patient coming to the urology clinic was concerned about whether he/she would be treated well by nursing staff, the patient would find that Joanie’s petals are ONLY “she loves me.” She is a true DAISY Nurse.