Valerie Gillis is a DAISY Nurse. At UWMC Montlake, we consistently have patients with complex pain-needs. Recently, this was the situation with a patient on 7SE in miserable pain. He was a young man with cancer, on high amounts of pain medication, and was wanting to find a good balance with his pain meds that managed his pain but allowed him to be awake. His pain medication needs were skyrocketing to the point where he needed a special pump to administer his pain meds and eventually needed the ICU for closer monitoring and ICU level medications. Valerie was there for the patient and his wife and for our staff. She checked in many times throughout the day and even after he was transferred to ICU when his needs exceeded what we could provide on our unit. This was a holiday weekend, but she followed his progress throughout the weekend to make sure that she could help with anything that was needed.

This is just one example of the value and expertise Valerie lends to our patients and staff. Other support includes rounding with nurse managers consistently and educating staff as she goes. She talks to patients about their pain, their pain meds, when to use them, and when to transition off pain meds. She teaches them about keeping medications safe and out of the hands of others and how to dispose of the pain meds when they are no longer needed. Valerie does a nice job of covering the full range of the pain medication process. In addition, she also recommends non-pharmaceutical options to manage pain. Thank you, Valerie, for being such a wonderful nurse and a wonderful resource for patients in pain and the staff caring for them.