Maggie is a very compassionate nurse and an active primary nurse in our unit. She is always willing to step up and be the primary nurse for a complicated patient that others may struggle with providing the care. She is an expert at forming bonds with the mother and incorporates her learning style with the care of her baby.
On one occasion, she worked tirelessly by exhausting numerous resources to ensure the expense of the baby's funeral was paid for due to the family's financial struggles. Many of the patients she has cared for return to the unit to visit her.
Maggie is not one to cut corners. She is methodical and meticulous in the care she provides. She is a true advocate for her patient with years of experience under her belt. The providers in the unit respect her judgement and honesty when expressing patient's needs or plan of care. They know Maggie "knows her stuff".
Maggie embraces diversity. She has researched others' customs, practices, and beliefs in order to better understand some of the patients she has taken care of. She has used this knowledge to help providers with family conference discussions; she wants the medical team to understand from the parents' point of view.
Maggie cares for many challenging patients. Her presence, gentleness, and explanation in an Ethics Family Conference helped swing in the pendulum in getting the family to make the best decision for the patient. The mother hugged and thanked her afterward. Maggie does not hesitate to reach out to the multidisciplinary team in the unit when necessary. She attends daily rounds to provide input from a nursing perspective and usually has a plan developed to present.
Maggie is one of the cornerstones of the NICU. She was a tremendous help with the move to NPH. She was a superuser for the new Philips monitors and the nursing staff had a full understanding of its functions prior to moving, thanks to her teachings. On the day of the move, Maggie came to work early to enter all 63 of the NICU patients' data into the monitors so that each patient would be ready for immediate monitoring upon arrival to the unit. The nurses were very appreciative of her efforts.
Maggie is one of the best preceptors. She is always our "go to" person for nursing students and RNs. Maggie will develop her own "manual" to give to her orientee to provide them with tips and tricks of the routine in the NICU. She can be seen patiently explaining difficult pathophysiology to nurses and you can see the facial expressions change when the light goes on. She provides lectures in the NICU RN residency classes and receives outstanding reviews.
Words really can't describe Maggie; you have to see her in action to get a true appreciation of the kind of nurse is. Maggie is a member of the NICU RN III committee and Nursery Services Policy and Procedure Committee. This group works on quality improvement and process changes. Maggie has a wealth of knowledge related to best practices and she does an excellent job helping newer nurses understand the need for change. She has been extremely positive with the changes and move to New Parkland. She is proud of the new facility. Every day she tries to motivate the NICU staff and for that I'm extremely thankful! She is definitely a shining star in our unit. The babies and their families are lucky to have her as a nurse, advocate, and friend.