Keri Clark
May 2021
Keri
Clark
,
BSN, RN
Transplant
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, University Hospital
Columbus
,
OH
United States
Her selfless gift was an act of hope for my patient that shed light on his currently dim world. Keri acted through kindness and compassion to give to a patient.
Very recently, I had the opportunity to be a nurse that provided care for a patient that was experiencing some real hardships. Due to a recent divorce, this patient was homeless and had limited access to resources. This patient was experiencing frequent accidents and came in with all of his belongings, which were all thoroughly soiled. As I provided care over the weekend, it began to wear on me that this gentleman did not even have the bare necessities that many of us don’t think twice about. As a new graduate nurse, I was discussing this gentleman's situation with my fellow coworkers at the nurses' station to inquire about the availability of social work over a weekend. Without many answers or availability to services over this weekend, I left work feeling defeated and wishing that we, as members of his healthcare team, could somehow make this better.
Returning the next day to work, I felt like I was dragging my feet, still worried about my patient. When I approached our nurses' station, I exchanged pleasantries with my peers and was told by a colleague, Keri Clark, that she had gathered some items for my patient and that they were in a bag on the counter for me to give to him. A blue duffel bag sat in the far corner of the nurses' station and after looking into it, I saw two packages of brand new underwear, a pair of new socks, brand new tee-shirts, shirts, and pullovers in varying thickness and warmth, a few pair of pants, a pair of shorts, and some essential hygiene products such as deodorant. This bag that had been so lovingly put together, with my patient in mind, also was reversible to a backpack for the simplicity of caring and storing items while out on the street. After working twelve hours the previous day, Keri took the time and energy to spend her short time away from work gathering clothing, essentials, and the convertible duffel to backpack bag for my patient. Keri had so briefly shared with me that the bag was there for him and moved on with her own patient assignment, that it covered my arms in goosebumps. Keri gave to this patient from the selfless, loving place in her heart that she provides care to everyone. Keri expected absolutely nothing in return and did not even expect to ever meet this patient as she had never been assigned to his care in his time on our unit.
After gathering myself, I presented the bag from Keri to my patient and he was extremely thankful, stating, “This is a new start. This woman gave me a new start to my life when I leave this place, I had nothing, I didn’t own a single pair of clean underwear.” Within hours, this patient had showered and was dressed in a brand new pair of comfortable sweatpants, clean underwear, and a button-up shirt. When passing my patient in the hallway on my way out of the building, I complimented how great he looked in new clothing and he took the time to say, “That woman you told me about is the first person who has seen me where I am at, you know, really the first person who saw me where I am today. That woman didn’t judge me, she just met me where I was at. This woman gave me a fresh start, quite literally with fresh clean clothes, and I feel like a new man.”
Keri demonstrated to me in this moment what it is to be a DAISY Nurse. Her selfless gift was an act of hope for my patient that shed light on his currently dim world. She acted through kindness and compassion to give to a patient. While Keri is extraordinarily skillful and clinically astounding as a nurse, it was this act of kindness that taught both myself and my patient what the true gift of nursing can be. Keri taught me, in this so brief interaction, a little more of whom I aspire to be as a nurse. Keri presents this level of dedication and love to help others to all of our patients, day in and day out. With a positive attitude and demonstrated desire to always give her all, I am so thankful for the care that she provides to all of our patients and those of us on 10 Rhodes.
***
We have unfortunately had some patients who have required extended stays on our unit and some of those patients have been under our care for over 100 days. When Keri gets assigned to these patients, or patients that have very complicated hospital stays (i.e. going back and forth from our unit to SICU/MICU, having ERTs called, or needing multiple surgeries) she will take the time to write out a timeline of the care that has been provided to the patient and often times will put this information in the sticky note section of the chart. This has been a very helpful tool to have during handoff and has also come in handy during ERTs to know exactly what the patient has had done and when.
When I have taken care of a patient that Keri has recently taken care of and have contacted that patient’s family to give them updates they usually mention that they have talked to Keri several times when she was their relative's nurse and the feedback I receive is always positive...always. It's not uncommon for patients or relatives to request that Keri be their nurse. She spends so much time caring for each patient and she really gets to know them on a personal level. The care that she provides is exceptional and when or if she has downtime she is looking through the patient’s chart to make sure there isn't information that she has missed or something that she needs to know so she can provide better care. Aside from the care that she provides to her patients she also does so much to keep our unit organized and educated. She has great communication skills and will send off an email if she feels that workflow could change in some way, shape, or form to improve the care we all provide. She has created many lists and cheat sheets in her spare time and keeps laminated copies throughout the unit so that we can have a quick reference and not miss something that could cause a delay in care.
I mentioned to Keri one weekend that with new nurses getting hired and oriented it would be nice if we had some sort of reference form that would show the typical order sets for living donor kidney recipients vs. deceased donor kidney recipients vs. liver recipients, etc. and by the time I came in for my shift a couple of days later every nurses’ station had quick reference forms that showed order sets for each type of surgery and we use them all the time now as a teaching tool. Keri has a way of providing solutions for any problems she presented with. She references policy when making suggestions and patient safety is always at the forefront of her thinking. If there is something she is unfamiliar with she takes the time to educate herself.
Keri is a huge asset to the transplant unit and OSUWMC. She has a great appreciation for all of her fellow coworkers and always takes time to thank them for the care that they provide. At Christmas time she made gift bags for all the PCA's and UCA's that had candy and stress relieving items in them. She has attended a patient’s funeral and has provided care packages for fellow employees that have been hospitalized. She always has gone above and beyond the call of duty. Keri never draws attention to herself and often does some of the sweetest things without even disclosing that she was the one who did it. She is truly the most compassionate, caring, and devoted nurse I have ever met. Keri is a true DAISY Nurse.
Returning the next day to work, I felt like I was dragging my feet, still worried about my patient. When I approached our nurses' station, I exchanged pleasantries with my peers and was told by a colleague, Keri Clark, that she had gathered some items for my patient and that they were in a bag on the counter for me to give to him. A blue duffel bag sat in the far corner of the nurses' station and after looking into it, I saw two packages of brand new underwear, a pair of new socks, brand new tee-shirts, shirts, and pullovers in varying thickness and warmth, a few pair of pants, a pair of shorts, and some essential hygiene products such as deodorant. This bag that had been so lovingly put together, with my patient in mind, also was reversible to a backpack for the simplicity of caring and storing items while out on the street. After working twelve hours the previous day, Keri took the time and energy to spend her short time away from work gathering clothing, essentials, and the convertible duffel to backpack bag for my patient. Keri had so briefly shared with me that the bag was there for him and moved on with her own patient assignment, that it covered my arms in goosebumps. Keri gave to this patient from the selfless, loving place in her heart that she provides care to everyone. Keri expected absolutely nothing in return and did not even expect to ever meet this patient as she had never been assigned to his care in his time on our unit.
After gathering myself, I presented the bag from Keri to my patient and he was extremely thankful, stating, “This is a new start. This woman gave me a new start to my life when I leave this place, I had nothing, I didn’t own a single pair of clean underwear.” Within hours, this patient had showered and was dressed in a brand new pair of comfortable sweatpants, clean underwear, and a button-up shirt. When passing my patient in the hallway on my way out of the building, I complimented how great he looked in new clothing and he took the time to say, “That woman you told me about is the first person who has seen me where I am at, you know, really the first person who saw me where I am today. That woman didn’t judge me, she just met me where I was at. This woman gave me a fresh start, quite literally with fresh clean clothes, and I feel like a new man.”
Keri demonstrated to me in this moment what it is to be a DAISY Nurse. Her selfless gift was an act of hope for my patient that shed light on his currently dim world. She acted through kindness and compassion to give to a patient. While Keri is extraordinarily skillful and clinically astounding as a nurse, it was this act of kindness that taught both myself and my patient what the true gift of nursing can be. Keri taught me, in this so brief interaction, a little more of whom I aspire to be as a nurse. Keri presents this level of dedication and love to help others to all of our patients, day in and day out. With a positive attitude and demonstrated desire to always give her all, I am so thankful for the care that she provides to all of our patients and those of us on 10 Rhodes.
***
We have unfortunately had some patients who have required extended stays on our unit and some of those patients have been under our care for over 100 days. When Keri gets assigned to these patients, or patients that have very complicated hospital stays (i.e. going back and forth from our unit to SICU/MICU, having ERTs called, or needing multiple surgeries) she will take the time to write out a timeline of the care that has been provided to the patient and often times will put this information in the sticky note section of the chart. This has been a very helpful tool to have during handoff and has also come in handy during ERTs to know exactly what the patient has had done and when.
When I have taken care of a patient that Keri has recently taken care of and have contacted that patient’s family to give them updates they usually mention that they have talked to Keri several times when she was their relative's nurse and the feedback I receive is always positive...always. It's not uncommon for patients or relatives to request that Keri be their nurse. She spends so much time caring for each patient and she really gets to know them on a personal level. The care that she provides is exceptional and when or if she has downtime she is looking through the patient’s chart to make sure there isn't information that she has missed or something that she needs to know so she can provide better care. Aside from the care that she provides to her patients she also does so much to keep our unit organized and educated. She has great communication skills and will send off an email if she feels that workflow could change in some way, shape, or form to improve the care we all provide. She has created many lists and cheat sheets in her spare time and keeps laminated copies throughout the unit so that we can have a quick reference and not miss something that could cause a delay in care.
I mentioned to Keri one weekend that with new nurses getting hired and oriented it would be nice if we had some sort of reference form that would show the typical order sets for living donor kidney recipients vs. deceased donor kidney recipients vs. liver recipients, etc. and by the time I came in for my shift a couple of days later every nurses’ station had quick reference forms that showed order sets for each type of surgery and we use them all the time now as a teaching tool. Keri has a way of providing solutions for any problems she presented with. She references policy when making suggestions and patient safety is always at the forefront of her thinking. If there is something she is unfamiliar with she takes the time to educate herself.
Keri is a huge asset to the transplant unit and OSUWMC. She has a great appreciation for all of her fellow coworkers and always takes time to thank them for the care that they provide. At Christmas time she made gift bags for all the PCA's and UCA's that had candy and stress relieving items in them. She has attended a patient’s funeral and has provided care packages for fellow employees that have been hospitalized. She always has gone above and beyond the call of duty. Keri never draws attention to herself and often does some of the sweetest things without even disclosing that she was the one who did it. She is truly the most compassionate, caring, and devoted nurse I have ever met. Keri is a true DAISY Nurse.