I am proud to say I am the Nurse Manager of 7 North and am truly proud of all the work these nurses do on a daily basis and in awe of their accomplishments. Each one of them meets and exceeds my expectations every day and I want to recognize them for their creative and innovative approaches towards achieving our unit and hospital goals and for the time, energy, and talent given to our patients, families, and ultimately to the community.
On July 1, 2016, we received a goal of discharging a percentage of patients by noon; a sigh is audible. Is this achievable? The team rallied, as I knew they would, with a multitude of ideas and suggested process changes to accomplish this goal. The team did not look to blame others but rather took ownership of what they could do to contribute. Huddling created a great avenue to generate ideas and with leadership from our 7 North Facilitators, we began our journey. This included:
>Identifying and writing down the potential discharges the day before for visualization for all shifts.
>Conversation and discussion with the team that discharging patients is not solely a day shift responsibility.
>Re-educate and verify chart checks and their importance and role this task plays to prepare the patient for discharge.
>Someone wondered why we cannot give vaccines the evening prior to discharge rather than waiting until the day of discharge and encountering barriers.
>Providing patient activity in the evening to assess safety for their discharge.
>Connecting with and calling family members the evening prior to discharge to inquire their availability time.
>Night shift preparing a discharge prep checklist for the USC to begin making arrangements first thing in the morning.
These are only a small portion of ideas generated and almost all of them continue to sustain. Executive leadership and other nursing units have recognized the team for our continued work. Our efforts have been spread to others units with modeling occurring.
Patients and families have recognized almost every RN on 7N with DAISY Award Nominations and many of the support staff. Patient's state:
"They are all very good…it helps to have a wonderful group like the 7th-floor team…they all made me feel relaxed talked to me and help me feel better…you could not ask for a group of special people better than they all are…You all make people feel special."
"During my nine day stay it would be hard to pick just one person. Everyone took the time to talk, encouragement, respect and showed kindness when I needed help with something. Would treat me like they would their grandfather which made me feel important."
On 7 North, no matter the patient or family behavior or the situation at hand, every patient is cared for, held, and seen as a person. Patients are provided Hank Williams music, invited to decorate our unit Christmas tree, provided shoes and clothing, magazines and books to read, innovative and creative medication regimes, treatment plans, to be able to care for and encompass the whole person and not just their disease.
Team Members honored with this DAISY Team Award:
Resh, Kimberly L
Antolihao, Belinda M
Bachman, Jessica
Brown, Deandra
Ebaugh, Emily
Ennis, Tanya J
Fillgrove, Jesse
Gallagher, Evan
Hershey, Maria A
Higgins, Kristen
Koehn, Carly E
Lefever, Elizabeth M
Levan, Jessica G
Lindenberger, Jessica M
Lloyd, Morgan
Martin, Tabitha M
Martin, Teesha D
Marusak, Melissa A
Miller, Ann
Oglesby, Michelle M
Nissley, Courtney M
Rector, Rhiannon
Roca, Yailen
Santiago, Julia L
Slaughenhoupt, Julie A
Slonaker, Carrie B
Stager, Amanda
Vulopas, Samantha
Zarichniak, Julie B
Dickson, Betsy
Galarza, Yamilette