Lauren Williams is an outstanding nurse. She began her career at University as a PCA, and her hard work and compassion for patients has continued into her nursing care. She had not yet been a nurse for a full year when she expressed interest in becoming a charge nurse. Her exceptional organizational skills and critical thinking has helped her become one of the preferred relief charge nurses for the unit. As a charge, she ensures the patients are cared for and the unit is running smoothly. As a staff nurse, when carrying a load of patients, her empathy is second to none. She handles difficult patients with a firm but kind hand and seems to always get the patients to comply with her requests. When others are having a difficult time, they call upon her for assistance, of which she is always readily available.
DAISY nominations are often written by those who have a voice. I want to nominate Lauren who is a champion for those who are unable to speak for themselves. Lauren has always been a strong advocate for her patients, and several times she has needed to go up the chain of command to ensure we are doing right by the patients. One difficult situation involved a patient that was well known to many throughout the hospital, but not in the way one would like to be known for. He came into the hospital and purposely gave a false name and incorrect information for billing purposes. He was unkind to almost all he encountered, including Lauren. Despite his poor attitude, Lauren noticed that the concern around him seemed to be decreasing. It felt that the resources available to him were less and less willing to help. Likely due to his angry and aggressive behavior.
Though Lauren did not blame others for wishing to pull back on interactions, she did ensure his care remained safe and consistent. When the patient began to feel neglected and even attacked at some point by some ancillary care team members, Lauren helped ease the patient's concerns. She advocated to bring in others to assist, spreading around his negativity to help reduce compassion fatigue. She ensured all the available resources we capitalized upon to help him financially when it came time for discharge. This man seemed to make every effort to be difficult and alienate others, yet Lauren looked past all of that and continued to care.
In a different, recent situation an elderly man with a poor prognosis was admitted to our hospital for an extended period of time. Despite his deteriorating medical condition, he continued to be a full code. Attempts to contact his family failed time and time again, the medical team could not obtain consent for a code status change or for procedures. Lauren took care of this patient on his day of discharge. She learned that the facility to which he was being discharged did not take NG tubes, which was the method of feeding for this man. A PEG would be risky, and the staff could not obtain consent even if it were a viable option. Lauren began to look into the discharge plan for this patient as we could not send him to a facility with no nutritional plan and no plan to change his code status to comfort measures. Lauren inquired to several team members who stated the plan was to continue to attempt to contact the family.
The primary physician even tried to shut down Laurens's inquires by telling her she was not to ask questions. Lauren, having a strong moral compass, did not let that stop her. She began to move up the chain of command ensuring we had a safe and ethical discharge for this patient. Many calls were made, the primary physician again told Lauren to stop asking questions and that the discharge plan was handled. Finally, after several hours of attempts to contact different care team members, Lauren learned the details of the discharge plan. It was complicated but made for a safe discharge that would not leave this patient without food or comfort at the facility. This patient is non-verbal, immobile, and seemingly alone. Lauren ensured that this patient received the best possible care even when having to go head to head with other care team members.
She is the type of nurse we all would want to care for our loved ones. I am proud of who she is as a person and a nurse, and she sets an example for us all.