It is with great pride and pleasure that I nominate Ms Racquel Ilagan for the DAISY Award on behalf of the Medical Oncology Unit (F3). Racquel is our unit’s Magnet champion and although her efforts in this role are “stand alone” it is through her dedication to providing compassionate bedside nursing care to the patient population of the F3 unit that she indeed “stands tall”. Racquel is one of our experienced and knowledgeable “seniors” and her loyalty and commitment to serving the needs of the patients and their families has endeared her to all who have had the pleasure ot work with her. Her unswerving pledge to afford the patients of the F3 unit optimal safe quality patient care in a compassionate manner is evidenced through:
Patient Focus
• As Racquel’s immediate supervisor I have commended on multiple occasions, informally by relatives of the patients she attends, for her sincere caring in alleviating the suffering of the patient with cancer. Further to this Racquel is highly respected and admired by the medical team for her expertise and determination to ensure that the needs of both the patient and family alike are met. She remains patient focused in all her nursing endeavors
• Whilst Racquel is an experienced and knowledgeable oncology nurse it is her willingness to share her expertise in a professional affable manner that has earned her the often times overwhelming role of preceptor – when new hires are due for arrival her name takes a high priority for assigning as I scan the schedule for her availability and I can say that when I see her schedule precludes such an assignment I feel slightly disheartened as I am always fully confident that any preceptee would feel comfortable and secure under her watchful eye. Racquel epitomizes “letting them down easy” when constructive criticism is called for
• During the four years I have managed the F3 unit not once have I had the need to address any issue in regards to Racquel’s professional performance or her behavior. Indeed her critical and analytical thinking skills in making everyday challenging decisions on this busy acute unit designates her as the “gold standard” by which many weigh themselves against .. she exemplifies the model of the true professional whose sincere dedication to patient advocacy is responsible for optimal patient outcomes
Quality
• Apart from the usual outward evidences of involvement in Quality eg. POCT representative, NDNQI pressure ulcer surveyor, Racquel is our Magnet champion. Because of her proactivity the unit now boasts eight “boards”, three of which are designated for Quality. Racquel’s creativity and tirelessness in ‘doing the boards”, as well as displays related to the KPI’s, such as Hand Hygiene, is becoming legendary in the hospital as we receive calls to come and see ‘what has been done on F3” to replicate
• Racquel’s ability to collegially collaborate with the multi-disciplinary team is well acknowledged within the Medical Oncology Services. She is the consummate patient advocate, ever ready to undertake the challenges, the least of which is working in a multi cultural diverse working environment, involved offering our patients and their families, suffering with cancer, the highest quality patient care
• Racquel is also an active Unit Based Council member, involved in critiquing policy and procedure practices specific to our patient population. This is because of her knowledge and expertise, which she openly shares with the team. Any task force aimed at improving our daily practice, finds her on board eg. her creativity can be found on every patient room door in regards our attempts to improve hand hygiene .. other units in our division, and indeed across divisions, are following her lead and copying her work
Compassion
In caring for the patients and their families suffering from cancer we are constantly confronted with the harsh reality of the terminality of their disease. When nursing those whose demise would seem premature there is an amount of shock for families as well as the nursing staff caring for them. On such occasions Raquel’s strength of resolve and courage to accept what cannot be changed has lent incredulous emotion support to relatives and co-workers for whom such situations can be emotionally and psychologically overwhelming. Her unashamed openness to shed a tear in such emotionally charged situations is testimony to her faith and sincerity of person to share in the unfortunate loss of a lover one “gone too early”. One clear example I can recall occurred in December 2011.. a beautiful young woman was admitted on the unit with a two month history of neurological dysfunction and diagnosis of a rare brain tumor. This 30 year old woman was mother to two young boys and husband to the male relative who stayed at her side day and night helping us to keep her restrained to prevent her from pulling our either her NGT or IV access. Despite radiation therapy this young person’s life was cut short and she passed away within weeks of being placed in a “No Code” status. Racquel had willingly accepted this challenging and emotionally draining patient assignment and established an excellent rapport with the husband. Unfortunately when the patient actually expired the husband was not present, as he had taken a short walk to calm himself of her impending demise. He undeservedly reproached himself for not being with his wife when she expired. Of course Racquel supported this relative through his self reproach and assisted him to calmly accept the inevitable. When Racquel recounted this to me when I enquired of this patient after the weekend of her death she did so with tears of sadness for the young woman and her husband left to raise their children without their mother. Such empathy for the sorrow of others is testimony to the sincere compassionate nature of a fine person and bedside nurse
Teamwork
As we embarked on our Magnet journey each unit was charged with the daunting task of designating a bedside nurse the unenviable role of supporting efforts towards retention of staff members. For the nurses of the F3 unit Racquel’s name headed the list! This is because of her commitment, dedication and loyalty in her daily strivings to meet the needs of her team. Her natural calm and approachable manner as a team member has been responsible for the training of Magnet to gain momentum on the unit. A fine example of her ability to not only work within a team as a team player but to undertake the more challenging role of team leader was in the recent completion of our Magnet boards. As much as half the team was directly involved in this endeavor, staying late after working hours, going to the bookshop with her on their days off and monopolizing my office for the color printer. Even one of the patients’ relatives contribution was a hand drawn colored ‘camel’ sits proudly on the main retention board in our staff lounge. It is her wonderful endearing personal qualities coupled with a high degree of professionalism that provides the synergy of our team; not to mention her flexibility and reliability as a staff nurse which are two values most admired and appreciated in our high acuity constantly changing patient population. Finally, it is on behalf of the F3 nursing team that we are submitting this nomination for our esteemed and highly regarded team member, whose contributions to our tam are not only noteworthy but deserve recognition as the next Daisy award recipient.
Thank you for this opportunity to nominate our awesome staff nurse Racquel.