Integrity: By maintaining and even exceeding the ethical standards required of all nurses and VHA employees, Mark has demonstrated exceptional integrity. If there is a concern related to patient care; he will go out of his way to bridge the gap between provider, radiologist and patient. This has resulted in high patient satisfaction with our service and is much appreciated by his co-workers and fellow employees.
Commitment: As a veteran himself, Mark identifies with our patient population. He is committed to the principles of the VA and demonstrates this on a daily basis in his interactions with patients and staff members. He is committed to ensuring the highest quality of care is provided to our patients; if it is within our means to accomplish, Mark will move mountains to ensure that it happens. An example of this is the Istat creatinine/egfr lab result. Without this test, patients could not have their exam performed with contrast and would potentially have to reschedule their exam if their lab-work was not completed prior to their appointment. Mark runs this test frequently during the work-day and to my knowledge, no patient has had to reschedule their exam due to lack of lab results.
Advocacy: Mark advocates for patients in many ways. For example, he routinely researches medical implants to ensure that patients can safely undergo an MRI exam. This may require contacting the patient, other facilities and the medical implant manufacturer. He ensures that the patient can be safely scanned and if they cannot be safely scanned; he communicates the reasoning with the requesting provider and documents the communication via the MRI safety note. In addition, he routinely communicates with providers, radiologists and other clinical personnel to address any contrast allergies or other medical issues which might affect the patient's ability to have his/her exam. By working in a cooperative fashion and giving input related to these issues, Mark is definitely advocating for patients. He represents our department in the ACLS meetings and is an advocate for our department in this regard as well.
Respect: Mark is respectful and courteous to patients, his co-workers and clinical staff. He is well regarded throughout the clinic. He has voluntarily accepted responsibilities that fall outside of traditional nursing and has gained the respect of the technologists within our department by doing so.
Excellence: Mark has demonstrated excellence in his nursing skills and has voluntarily assumed additional responsibilities which might not be considered traditional nursing. He regularly serves as the bridge between technologists and radiologists, radiologists and providers and radiologists, technologists and patients. This ability to multi-task and communicate effectively with a variety of groups is extremely important and increases our ability to provide timely, effective, high-quality, imaging examinations. The downstream result enhances the providers' ability to develop and provide an effective treatment plan for all of our patients.