Julie Cardwell
February 2015
Julie
Cardwell
,
RN
Physical/Medical Therapy
Mercy Medical Center
Sioux City
,
IA
United States
Julie has been a Rehab nurse at Mercy for 30 years. Julie is a DAISY Nurse every day in her work here on the Rehab unit. She consistently receives thank you cards from her patients after they have been dismissed and every month there is a positive comment about her on our Rehab inpatient satisfaction surveys. Julie receives compliments from really just about anyone who observes her in action with her patients - everyone from student nursing instructors to nurses from other units to physicians.
She has a way with her patients that is no less than magical. She is able to motivate her patients and teach them how to be as independent as possible without making them feel like she doesn't want to help them. She is encouraging and respectful. The philosophies of Relationship Based Care come naturally to her. Julie is poised and professional in her conversations with patients that are sometimes uncomfortable and she openly addresses all aspects of their life they may face with new deficits they have acquired from their stroke or traumatic accident. She provides encouragement and promotes patients to accept what has happened and find ways to overcome and adapt. She is able to truly bond with her patients. She has a joyful spirit. She will not let her patients give up, and they overwhelmingly appreciate her for that. Julie is honest and real in her communication and wears her heart on her sleeve which makes her patients feel safe to do that as well. She laughs with her patients daily and sometimes she cries with them.
She is very committed to our organization and is always thinking about ways we can improve our work here. Julie represents Rehab, the nurse education council and our unit's Relationship Based Care committee and is instrumental in making the committees' work valuable to our everyday nursing operations. Each year Julie organizes her own attendance to the Iowa Brain Injury Conference and brings back valuable information and implements it with her patients - she is determined to have each patient set individualized goals that are purposeful to them and will work each day to help them reach their specific goal. She also created a tool designed to improve relationships with nurses pulled in to work on Rehab and help them be successful and more at ease working in a unit less familiar to them. She is passionate about Rehab and wants our patients to receive the most out of their acute rehabilitation stay. Instead of referring to the patient's length of stay as 'how much time the patient gets to be here', she thinks 'how much time do I get to spend with this patient?'...as if it is an honor to her to provide care to them and teach them. She shows up to work every single day with positive energy and ready to make a difference in her patients' rehabilitation programs.
Julie is truly a gem to our unit. She is a selfless, compassionate, and kind human being, an amazing person both in her nursing work and in her life outside of work. It is a privilege to work with such a wonderful person!
She has a way with her patients that is no less than magical. She is able to motivate her patients and teach them how to be as independent as possible without making them feel like she doesn't want to help them. She is encouraging and respectful. The philosophies of Relationship Based Care come naturally to her. Julie is poised and professional in her conversations with patients that are sometimes uncomfortable and she openly addresses all aspects of their life they may face with new deficits they have acquired from their stroke or traumatic accident. She provides encouragement and promotes patients to accept what has happened and find ways to overcome and adapt. She is able to truly bond with her patients. She has a joyful spirit. She will not let her patients give up, and they overwhelmingly appreciate her for that. Julie is honest and real in her communication and wears her heart on her sleeve which makes her patients feel safe to do that as well. She laughs with her patients daily and sometimes she cries with them.
She is very committed to our organization and is always thinking about ways we can improve our work here. Julie represents Rehab, the nurse education council and our unit's Relationship Based Care committee and is instrumental in making the committees' work valuable to our everyday nursing operations. Each year Julie organizes her own attendance to the Iowa Brain Injury Conference and brings back valuable information and implements it with her patients - she is determined to have each patient set individualized goals that are purposeful to them and will work each day to help them reach their specific goal. She also created a tool designed to improve relationships with nurses pulled in to work on Rehab and help them be successful and more at ease working in a unit less familiar to them. She is passionate about Rehab and wants our patients to receive the most out of their acute rehabilitation stay. Instead of referring to the patient's length of stay as 'how much time the patient gets to be here', she thinks 'how much time do I get to spend with this patient?'...as if it is an honor to her to provide care to them and teach them. She shows up to work every single day with positive energy and ready to make a difference in her patients' rehabilitation programs.
Julie is truly a gem to our unit. She is a selfless, compassionate, and kind human being, an amazing person both in her nursing work and in her life outside of work. It is a privilege to work with such a wonderful person!