Michelle is knowledgeable, a critical thinker, is a mentor for new nurses, preceptor for students and new nurses, and serves as one of our charge nurses. She has even gotten her SANE certification and does on-call hours in the Children's ER.
Michelle is calm, cool, and collected during each shift, even when she has escalated or difficult families. As a charge nurse, she is approachable and will help guide nurses through difficult situations and will jump in to help with anything. For example, I had a patient whose family members could not be there, and I didn't have a CA for my whole patient assignment. Michelle saw that I was running around and went and fed my patient, gave him a bath, and changed his linens. Michelle did these acts without even asking, and I believe that speaks measures to the type of nurse, person, and leader that Michelle is. She is also a natural leader and leads by example by constantly referring back to policies and implementing the best practices.
Michelle speaks up for safety and advocates for her patients and families consistently. By being a SANE nurse, she is an advocate for one of the most vulnerable and fragile populations at the time that they truly need it the most. She dedicates time off of the floor to her SANE work and projects, as well as involvement in committees on the 8th floor.
Michelle communicates with the team using the SBAR method and notifies the team of changes in the patient's condition, which leads to the prevention of further decline in their condition. Michelle also communicates with families in ways that they understand and learn best. She will use the interpreter when needed and evaluates each family's individual health literacy level and will guide her communication and teaching based on that. As an experienced nurse with safety as her top priority, Michelle will speak up during rounds if doctors aren't communicating in a way the family understands.
Michelle is an incredible teammate. Being a new nurse, Michelle is someone that I feel comfortable going to if I have questions and fosters a learning environment along with her fellow nurses. She precepted me as a new graduate nurse, and I learned so much from her knowledge and skills. Each student and nurse she works with are lucky to learn from her.
The families and patients who have Michelle as their nurse are very fortunate to have her involved in the care of their child. She is compassionate, knowledgeable, skilled, and an overall exceptional nurse. She demonstrates the Children's values in her care.