Richelle always goes above and beyond to provide the patients with the best care possible. She actually takes the time to get to know her patients. She has compassion and empathy towards our patients. She is always full of positive energy.
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Richelle readily accepts the challenges of our unique patient population. She cares for each patient individually. She listens to her patients, takes the time to be out in the common area with them, and is honest with them about their care and medications. She treats every psychiatric patient with respect and the patients notice this when they have her as a nurse or even when she is charge nurse. No matter their diagnosis, or behavioral issues, she is there to help them. She takes the time to just talk to them, teach them about their medications, or even simply getting them an extra blanket or clean sheets.
In psychiatric care a lot of time the patients participate in groups throughout the day; however, on evening shift, there are almost no groups after dinner and frequently patients get bored or agitated at staff. One patient was beginning to get agitated and said that she felt ignored and that nobody was listening to her. Richelle was charge that day and heard the patient beginning to get loud in the common area. She sat down next to her and asked her what we could do to help her. The patient stated she wanted to run a therapeutic group where everyone was asked about their day and feelings. Richelle told the patient that she could facilitate the group for her and the patient appeared surprised to even be allowed to run a group. Richelle told her that in an hour they would run the group in the dayroom and ask everyone about their day and feelings, just as she said.
She held firm to her promise. She not only helped a patient be heard and allowed for group therapy but took the initiative to help a patient start something positive, rather than allow it to become a negative situation.
Richelle not only gives the patients hope they can improve their current situations, but helps create a welcome environment to be successful. An instance is when some of our patients could not use the thermometers. She quickly found a way to get us temporal thermometers. A patient's temperature is an important aspect of care, especially with certain medications.
She also helped me in my effort to build a library for our patients. She realizes the difficulty we sometimes face working in the field of nursing and that staff need to be supported as well. She has been working on putting together a staff relaxation room and redesigning our staff lounge with a focus on retention.
She has put so much time and effort into making Harding Hospital a better place that her positive energy flows into everyone.