I wanted to take the time, on behalf of myself, my mother and my father, to nominate Kayla Jansen for the DAISY award. Ms. Jansen provided exceptional care that was compassionate, ethical, and certainly stood out in terms of the quality that she provided my father. She exceeded the criteria for nomination of the DAISY Award and we feel very blessed to have had her are for my father while he was ill. In fact, I was so impressed with her skill, compassion, professionalism, foresight, and care that I was extremely shocked to learn that she had only been a nurse for a few months. I’d spent up to ten or more hours a day at the hospital with my father, had seen a number of nurses, and I cannot stress enough that Ms. Jansen provided by far the best care possible. Let me be a bit more specific in terms of how she stood out in her care:
I was extremely impressed with the extraordinary service Ms. Jansen provided. She would immediately introduce herself upon arriving for her shift and said goodbye to my father at the end of her shift as she noted who the next nurse would be that evening. This only took a few seconds but comforted the patient, and is a great example of providing compassionate and quality care.
Ms. Jansen also answered the call light promptly, and while she was with my father, never seemed rushed, short or frustrated (even when her phone was ringing multiple times, she would very politely say, excuse me or one moment please….after letting my father speak. Ms. Jansen’s prompt response was a relief, not just to my father, but to myself as well, because I knew I could leave if needed, and not worry about my father who is a fall risk, sitting on a portable toilet waiting for assistance.
Further, Ms. Jansen was very skilled at anticipating the needs of her patient. She would pop her head in the room regularly and ask if his pain was ok (my father was an Isolation Patient.) As a result, his pain was controlled far better when Ms. Jansen was working that any other time and he was considerably less anxious. She also gave his scheduled medications on time knowing he would be in pain and/or needing his sleeping pill to rest.
Ms. Jansen would also ask before leaving the room, “Is there anything else I can do for you?” This made my father feel like his needs were being cared for and helped him to feel less anxious about my leaving and him having to be there alone.
Ms. Jansen always followed up with my father when the doctor needed to be called about his care, etc. This kept my father in the loop with regards to his care and made him feel more informed and in control of the choices being made on his behalf.
When my father, who had such a hard time asking for things because he didn’t want to be a burden, Ms. Jansen responded to his needs immediately and would say very compassionately, “You are never a burden and I want to make sure you are as comfortable as possible.” For example, because of my father’s pain, he had a difficult time getting comfortable and had asked for a pillow and blankets because he was cold (even though he already had three of each.) He received a response from another nurse, “It looks like you have plenty to me.” He did not receive the requested blankets or pillow at this time. This made my father hesitant to ask for other things. When I arrived, he was very down and told me what had happened and that he was cold and could not get comfortable. Ms. Jansen had arrived and when I asked her for an additional pillow and blanket, she immediately showed compassion and said, “Sure, these rooms do get a little cold. I’ll get those for you right away.” She did just that, and even brought him a warm blanket. She then noticed that he seemed to be slouched too far down in his bed and asked to adjust him. This is one example of Ms. Jansen’s excellent observation skills. I assisted her in using the bed sheet to scoot my father up, and he said, “That feels so much better!” and “that is a neat trick she did.” Such a simple fix for his discomfort! Ms. Jansen took the extra steps to assist her patient!
Perhaps the greatest compliment was my father saying, “If I have to go back to that hospital, I want to ask for them to assign me to the area where Kayla works, because she’s the best nurse I’ve ever had.” (He’s been hospitalized before.) Ms. Jansen was the bright spot in my father’s stay and is truly an exceptional nurse who more than deserves the DAISY Award.