During the past several months, our unit's charge nurses have been making brief, follow-up courtesy telephone calls to parents of recently-discharged neonatal patients to check-in and see how the first few days at home are going and to thank them for the opportunity to care for their baby.
During one of these post-discharge telephone conversations, Jill was speaking with the young mother of a former premature patient (who was born at 24-weeks gestation, with a history of thrombus, and discharged home after spending its first 14-weeks of life in our hospital) when she soon overheard the baby's labored breathing in the background. This nurse immediately shifted her conversation focus to the baby's audible "noisy breathing" and began asking the young mother several assessment-type questions about her baby. Recognizing this baby was in respiratory distress, this nurse hero urged/convinced this young mother to seek immediate medical attention for her baby. The mother acknowledged she had already previously taken her baby to its first scheduled post-discharge/follow-up pediatric appointment, did not realize the seriousness/severity of her baby's current condition, and simply attributed her baby's "fussiness" to "trying to have a bowel movement". It was later learned that this former premature patient was admitted to the Pediatric ICU at Vidant Medical Center for sepsis, underwent bowel surgery for partial necrosis on the same day that this post-discharge telephone call was made, and remained hospitalized for several more weeks.
I'm thankful God allowed this gifted nurse to be in the right place at the right time to use her keen clinical skills to help this baby and her young mother during a critical time while in their home. I'm thankful God allowed this young mother to answer her telephone and heed this seasoned Jill's advice. For more than 15-years, I've witnessed this dedicated neonatal nurse use her eyes, hands, heart, and mind to provide exceptional nursing care to tiny patients while at the bedside.
When I heard about this particular telephone conversation, I wasn't surprised to learn that Jill used her ears, mouth, heart, and mind to make an extraordinary difference in the lives of this family while on the telephone! I wonder what this baby's outcome might have been had Jill not made this post-discharge telephone call and intervened. This nurse has been nominated for the DAISY Award before for her extraordinary nursing talents by a former premature patient's grateful mother.
Without question, I believe this special nurse is most deserving of the DAISY Award recognition for her remarkable efforts. Thank you for your consideration of her nomination for this honor.