When I read the words "extraordinary skillful, compassionate care they provide patients and families," there is only one nurse who comes to mind. That nurse is Mark Turner, BSN, RN. You will notice we have the same last name, and that is because I am blessed to have Mark Turner as my husband. He has no idea I am submitting him for this award, nor does he care about awards. He is just an amazing nurse, doing his job humbly and with love. I may be a little bias, but I will tell you why I am justified in calling Mark Turner one of the best nurses I know. Mark works as an Emergency Room nurse, and I do not, yet I always hear about him throughout the hospital. We have worked in hospitals from 129 beds to over 900 beds. Regardless of the size of the hospital, I always hear about "that ER nurse, Mark." I will begin with skills. At our assignment in Napa, CA, I was taking care of a patient who needed an IV. She was exhausted from being stuck several times by multiple nurses over the course of her stay. I feel confident with IVs, so I gave it a go, but I was not successful. I knew Mark could do it! I called and asked if he could take a 15-minute break to come and start this lady's IV. When I mentioned to the patient that Mark was going to come up and that he was the best, the patient's roommate, who was not my patient, chimed in with, "Oh Mark put my IV in, in the ER, he's so good! It didn't even hurt." Well, Mark came up and placed the IV before I could even come back into the room.
Mark is also very skilled with infant and children IVs and care. I know this from coming to visit him in the ER and his peers saying to me, "Mark just put a 20 gage IV in a two-year-old on the first try!" or "I'm so glad Mark was able to get my four-year-old patient to take his medicine, because he was not taking it from me." Another example of skill set is how Mark won a lightning bolt award at our assignment in Charlottesville, VA, for administering TPA to a stroke patient within 45 minutes. The goal standard is one hour. Mark also created an eye flush with an IV catheter and medicine cup at a hospital that did not have an eye flush in stock. These are just a few stories and examples I can think of at this moment, but I could go on and on about how Mark is good at every nursing skill! When a nurse has a strong skill set, it can really put the patient at ease. I know how compassionate Mark is mostly from the patients who come up to the floor from the emergency room. I often do not tell patients right away that Mark is my husband because I want them to be non-biased about his care for them. I have had several patients in 5 hospitals now come up to me on the floor after Mark has cared for them, and they all are resounding with praises for Mark. I hear things like, "my nurse downstairs put my husband's NG tube in, and we are so glad we had him because he did an amazing job and was so kind to my husband (who was the patient) and me."
I also hear things like, "We just all love Mark, and he is so sweet!" When I tell them he is my husband and I agree with them, it immediately gives me a good rapport with patients and families by default. I also get to hear the after work stories about how Mark held the hand of a man who was dying, or how he honored the culture of a family who wanted certain things around the patient when the doctor seemed put off by the idea. I consider myself a great nurse, but Mark is an Extraordinary Nurse! Different staff members are always so excited to talk about Mark. When they find out he is my husband, I always hear the same thing, "Oh Mark is your husband! He is wonderful and a great nurse, we love having him." Just the other day at our current assignment, the stroke coordinator came up to me to tell me she met my husband; and the director of the ICU, also in charge of the emergency room right now, loves Mark and hopes he can stay longer than the 13 weeks. We often always are offered extensions at our assignments, and they usually start with an extension offered to Mark. I am so thankful for the opportunity to let you know how wonderful Mark is as a nurse.