I have known Merlita for 10 years now but she is working here in KFSH for total of 25 years now if I am not mistaken. Though she was just recently transferred to our unit (A4) 1 ½ years ago but this won't stop me from knowing her in quite a long years now.
I admire Merly for always wearing her beautiful and genuine smile even her day runs very busy; her smile became part of her uniform. She can seemingly works under pressure but still managed to be calm and cool. Whenever she is on, she always perfectly swayed the team with her positive outlook and being soft spoken lady makes the unit's ambiance a suitable working environment. She is very compassionate to help her colleagues by offering them a hand never wait to be asked.
She is an excellent mentor not only to the new but even to the oldest staffs in the unit, very patient in teaching staffs, she never stop imparting knowledge to others. Every new staffs have their good feedback after being mentored by Merly, because her mentorship never ends there but continues through out until her tenure here ends. She is an excellent role model to all by consistently following what the policies and procedures of the organization are implementing, so firm with her principles and has a strong integrity because she is not tolerating the wrong practice of others by correcting directly the person involve in a tactful manner. Merly is very organized with her work and has a good time management.
We have one incident that if not because of Merly, a patient might have been died or care has been jeopardized. Being very patient focused and really wants the best for her every patients, she was able to save one's life by doing her thorough assessment (which she always does) for her patient, this patient of her scheduled by Radiology department for MRI and upon endorsement by the outgoing shift, patient had NGT in place- so intuitive she was, following her routine, she went to assess the patient right after the endorsement and had a thought of going to the herman miller and check one of the NGT product and apparently she noticed that the product supplied by the store is a new one not the same as before (Flexiflo) and not written in the package whether it is MRI compatible or not, she opened the package and found out that there were metals inside, she wondered and cut the edge of the NGT and confirmed it was a metal, apparently the Radiology department called up to send the patient down which she did send but she spoke to the technician what she has found out and gave the sample of the metal to them and was tested, it is not MRI compatible and on the other hand patient was returned back to the unit and cancelled the procedure, because of this email was sent to the product coordinator and information was coordinated or collaborated, Merly is an angel sent to the rest of the organization. This is not the only good story to share about her but this is one of her best but more is yet to come probably. This incident served as an eye opener that nurses should not only be good in assessing and performing care to their patients but also to be a real and an excellent patient advocate for them. This incident made a very big impact in this organization, not only one life is being saved but a million lives. She always demonstrates empathy to her patients as well as to their families. Moreover she always makes sure that she communicates effectively and clearly to each of her patients by the use of allied individual. She knows how to listen and act accordingly. She always finds time to sit with her patient especially when she feels that her presence is needed.
In addition, Merly is a very big help on our unit, very flexible schedule and work wise. With regards to quality the story above is a living example of her excellent quality work. She always maintained that supplies are being checked and collaborated accordingly.