Jennifer Dickman, Procedure Center RN demonstrates the criteria for a DAISY award on a daily basis. Jen is always smiling and looking for the positive in any situation. She is a leader among her peers. Her words and actions depict a supportive attitude of the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh values of PRIDE.
One particular example of Jen’s use of excellent interpersonal skills with patients and families occurred this past week. Jen was the charge nurse in the Procedure Center and late in the afternoon she received a call from an angry father that he did not receive any instructions for his child’s procedure which as he stated was scheduled for the following day. Jen checked the procedure center schedule and did not find this angry father’s child name on the schedule. Jen took the father’s phone number and told him she would investigate and call him back. Jen proceeded to review the patient’s chart and was able to see that this procedure had mistakenly been cancelled in the surginet application and the child’s name never made it to the surgical schedule. Jen made phone calls to the gastroenterologist, the anesthesiologist in charge, and the Same Day Surgery Unit to get authorization to add this child onto the schedule for the next day. Jen then made follow up phone calls to the father and was unable to reach him by phone after three or four attempts. She did leave a detailed message on his voice mail assuring him we could accommodate his child’s procedure and to expect a call from the Same Day Surgery Nurse.
Jen made sure she communicated to all parties involved and even came in to work early the next day to share the situation with her manager. When Jen arrived in the morning, she checked the unit audex for messages and there were two messages from the angry father and the messages used profane language. Jen handled the situation with a high level of professional behavior. She alerted the Same Day surgery staff of the parent situation and asked that she be called to meet the family when they arrived at the hospital. She also alerted the attending physicians (anesthesia and gastroenterology) of the issues with the father.
When the child and father arrived in SDS registration, Jen accompanied by her manager went to the Pre op area to meet the family. It was here where Jen’s expertise in communication, set the stage for a positive turn of events. Jen thanked the family for coming to the hospital today; she also apologized for any confusion the family had experienced. She identified herself as the person that the father spoke to the previous day and offered to help them along throughout the day. Meal tickets were obtained from the SDS director and Jen was able to give them to the father and provide a service recovery experience for that particular family.
This specific example is just one in the many day to day services Jennifer Dickman provides to the patients and families that utilize the Perioperative Care of the Procedure Center.