We don’t expect to be busy during the month of Ramadan, but last week we were busy on transfers and admissions.

Sheeja Mathew is a staff nurse 1 who demonstrates self confidence and self reliance all the time. For me, she is going the extra mile whenever she is on duty. One example was the event that happened last Wednesday (23/8/11). She was handling a sick patient whose chest was re-opened the previous day. The case history was a Glenn shunt and TV repair. Her patient was on a ventilator with inotropes and nitric oxide. Though her patient assignment was heavy, she took the opportunity to help in preparation of the bed and room set up for a patient arriving from OR. That day, we did not have extra nurses to admit the patient, so the charge nurse hurried up to transfer patients to the ward to accommodate the admission.

Upon receiving the patient from OR, usually the charge nurse should be the secondary nurse until the primary nurse has settled down and the patient becomes stable. On that day, Sheeja helped them by arranging the IV pumps and spaghetti lines/tubing from OR to the IV stand at the back of the bed. She served as a recorder and circulating nurse too. On the next OR admission of the same day, she was present again and helped in the same way as in the first admission. Our charge nurse couldn’t help but comment that she is nice to work with because of her positive attitude and helping hand that lightens the work load. On top of that, she never forgot her responsibility to her patient. Even the family of her patient commented on her exemplary nursing care.

For me, the DAISY award is not only being compassionate towards your patient, but showing that YOU CARE in all aspects of nursing work.