I have worked with Nancy Choe, RN for three years, she has proven to be the caring and compassionate provider who makes patient safety her number one priority. Her contribution to the heart failure program has been vital to the overall success of the department. After a heart failure patient is discharged from the hospital, the heart failure team is responsible for conducting patient checks via phone with each patient to follow up on their status. The members of the team are responsible for providing guidance regarding selfcare and offering the emotional support necessary to help manage this chronic disease.

An expert nurse like Nancy, goes above and beyond the minimum requirements to achieve that outcome by looking deeper and probing further with each patient during this critical time of transition. Nancy actively listens to the patient to ensure that it is not just the right “answers” and the presentation of each patient corresponds with the “answers” being provided. She makes it a priority to provide every possible resource necessary to meet each patient’s individual needs.

Nancy’s expertise and ability to listen beyond the “answers” being provided and ask the appropriate questions saved the life of one of our patients. During follow-up calls, Nancy suspected a patient appeared emotionally low despite the provision of appropriate “answers.” She questioned the patient further despite hearing what is deemed appropriate in this setting. In doing that, the patient confided to Nancy he had contemplated suicide; however, at the time of their conversation, the patient reported that he was feeling much better and denied any suicidal ideations. Once again, Nancy heard the necessary responses to justify no further intervention. In addition, Nancy wanted to believe the patient; however, her clinical expertise coupled with her nursing intuition told her that further intervention and follow-up were indicated. Therefore, Nancy proactively called the patient back the following morning. During their second conversation, the patient confided in Nancy and told her that he was in fact actively suicidal he had a plan to carry out his suicidal ideation. Nancy remained on the phone and spoke with the patient until her clinical intuition told her that it was safe to conclude the conversation. Immediately thereafter, Nancy called 911, advised emergency services of the situation, and requested a wellness check at the patient’s residence. The patient was subsequently transported to a local hospital where he was admitted for observation and provided the appropriate care and treatment he needed.

It was because of Nancy’s ability to think “outside of the box” and evaluate the entire clinical picture before her that she was able to not only save this patient’s life but also to ensure he received the appropriate care and treatment.

I could not run the heart failure program without Nancy. She is smart and works diligently to evaluate both our inpatients and outpatients. She works great with the patients and often finds concerns that some bedside RNs may have overlooked. Her critical thinking is a huge part of her success but her caring deeply about all her patients is what makes her shine. She is always trying to do the right thing even if it means that she may be overtime a bit but it is always in the best interest of the patient.

As part of our discharge process, we do call patients to check on them but that is where her critical thinking comes into play. It would have been easy to look for the basic information in follow up but because she goes above and beyond, she has the insight to ask appropriate questions leading to the patient stating he felt suicidal. The situation was handled perfectly, and she followed up again to check on him. This is just one example of Nancy “never dropping the ball.”

Another example of going above and beyond was her effort in putting together a resource for patients who need financial assistance for needed medications. She put together a packet for patients to go home with that includes many of our medications and where to go to get them at the best rate. Patients are very appreciative. Her motivation comes from an internal drive to help patients be successful.

It is difficult to measure the success of the RN to impact patient care but because we have Nancy to assist in our program, our program has been very successful. I hope over the years she knows how valued she is in the heart failure program but being honored as a DAISY Nurse is what she deserves. Torrance Memorial is lucky to have her.