Pam Quasney
May 2022
Pam
Quasney
,
RN
MSO
Dignity Health Sequoia Hospital
Redwood City
,
CA
United States
Pam went above and beyond, not only satisfying the family by locating the much-needed medication for a late-night, weekend discharge, but also the human kindness of remembering the patient’s most immediate need…a Pepsi.
I am grateful to her for advocating for me to have proper orientation and making sure that I understand the patient care needs in MSO before I work on my own. As an employee, I felt supported. I felt the human kindness this hospital is promoting.
***
Pam has many years of consistent professional, smart, compassionate care of her patients and staff under her belt. As a charge nurse, Pam not only cares for her staff but always goes above and beyond to support patients and families. There are two monumental examples of how she beautifully navigates charge nurse responsibilities while still being able to share her many gifts with families in crisis. Several months ago, late on a Friday evening, there was a patient who had an oncologic surgery which was unsuccessful as the surgeon opened and closed promptly as the metastatic disease had spread throughout her abdominal cavity. The devastated patient and family arrived on Pam’s unit only to be faced with multiple obstacles, namely discharge medications that seemed to be unavailable throughout the bay area on this late Friday evening. Pam led the mission to locate this precious, life-extending medication to meet the goal of her immediate discharge on hospice. This was paramount to the family; they wanted her home as soon as possible to live out her last days surrounded by her loving family. However, the patient’s priority, which was to provide her the only solace at this point of a very stressful and tragic day, was obtaining and drinking a Pepsi soda. Pam hustled down and brought her the highly prized Pepsi and the patient, overwhelmed with her terminal diagnosis, and failed surgery, burst into tears of joy when “Pepsi Pam” delivered the “gold”. Pam went above and beyond, not only satisfying the family by locating the much-needed medication for a late-night, weekend discharge, but also the human kindness of remembering the patient’s most immediate need…a Pepsi.
Another beautiful story of the compassion and dedication that Pam exhibits daily occurred when a patient was admitted for comfort care. The patient was dying alone because her brokenhearted daughter had yet to be vaccinated and was not permitted in the hospital due to COVID restrictions. As promised, Pam held this woman’s hand all the way to the end of her life, providing the patient with dignity in her final moments. Later that week, the patient’s daughter tearfully shared, “my profuse and profound appreciation for the care and compassion given to my dying mother. Pam gave my mother the ultimate gift of dignity and I am forever grateful.” We are all grateful to Pam for her leadership, care, and compassion… she always goes above and beyond.
***
Pam has many years of consistent professional, smart, compassionate care of her patients and staff under her belt. As a charge nurse, Pam not only cares for her staff but always goes above and beyond to support patients and families. There are two monumental examples of how she beautifully navigates charge nurse responsibilities while still being able to share her many gifts with families in crisis. Several months ago, late on a Friday evening, there was a patient who had an oncologic surgery which was unsuccessful as the surgeon opened and closed promptly as the metastatic disease had spread throughout her abdominal cavity. The devastated patient and family arrived on Pam’s unit only to be faced with multiple obstacles, namely discharge medications that seemed to be unavailable throughout the bay area on this late Friday evening. Pam led the mission to locate this precious, life-extending medication to meet the goal of her immediate discharge on hospice. This was paramount to the family; they wanted her home as soon as possible to live out her last days surrounded by her loving family. However, the patient’s priority, which was to provide her the only solace at this point of a very stressful and tragic day, was obtaining and drinking a Pepsi soda. Pam hustled down and brought her the highly prized Pepsi and the patient, overwhelmed with her terminal diagnosis, and failed surgery, burst into tears of joy when “Pepsi Pam” delivered the “gold”. Pam went above and beyond, not only satisfying the family by locating the much-needed medication for a late-night, weekend discharge, but also the human kindness of remembering the patient’s most immediate need…a Pepsi.
Another beautiful story of the compassion and dedication that Pam exhibits daily occurred when a patient was admitted for comfort care. The patient was dying alone because her brokenhearted daughter had yet to be vaccinated and was not permitted in the hospital due to COVID restrictions. As promised, Pam held this woman’s hand all the way to the end of her life, providing the patient with dignity in her final moments. Later that week, the patient’s daughter tearfully shared, “my profuse and profound appreciation for the care and compassion given to my dying mother. Pam gave my mother the ultimate gift of dignity and I am forever grateful.” We are all grateful to Pam for her leadership, care, and compassion… she always goes above and beyond.