As a Care Manager, Laura is committed to delivering the highest standards of professional nursing practice by making the ordinary extraordinary each and every day, with every encounter and with every patient and family. Laura portrays a high level of confidence by demonstrating excellent clinical knowledge, critical thinking skills, and relational proficiency.
She works relentlessly with challenging patients and their families in chaotic situations, with confidence and a high level of respect. Laura is able to listen, respect, and act upon what she can learn from the patient and families. She is able to be present in their distresses, respect and appreciate, and learn something from their responses. Laura is compassionate and dedicated to her work and exemplifies this through her daily communication with patients and families, meeting them where they are, working with what they have and can offer, with a focus on helping them move to the next level of care and with the safest discharge plan to help them achieve their goals. Her efforts help provide, connect and link patients to available resources through her confident transitional plans and caring farewells. She goes above and beyond in most situations.
For example, a patient was ready for discharge from the hospital and was unable to afford his co-pay. Through her acts of kindness, she paid for his co-pay in order to prevent a readmission and assisted the patient in getting well. Laura is truly patient-centered and focused on being a patient/family advocate. Laura not only works well with her customers but also with the staff at Mission Hospital. Laura is routinely recognized for her daily commitment and outstanding attributes which makes Mission a Great Place to Work and Practice.
Recently, we had a patient who was a gunshot wound victim at an early age, which left him paralyzed and ventilator-dependent.
Since this event in the patient's life, his mother has arranged care for him and worked to meet his basic needs with such devotion and love for her child. With each readmission, the discharge resources available continued to lessen, limiting the patient's ability to meet future goals. Laura, with great skill and compassion, entered the room of a vulnerable young adult to begin a very difficult conversation regarding discharge plans. In the past, all decisions regarding his care were deferred to his mother. Laura approached the patient as a young competent adult with the ability to decide upon his future and what he would like to do moving forward as the resources have become very limited.
Permission was obtained to speak to both the patient and the mother together. Laura spoke to the patient and mother with great empathy while delivering a difficult message to the patient and his mother- the message of the limited resources and the possibility the patient may have to discharge to a new environment. She provided comfort to the patient and the mother. The way the information/message was delivered reveals how Laura is truly patient-centered by establishing special connections with her patients and families through trust and emotional support. Laura's main purpose for this meeting was to develop a further rapport with this patient and his mother. Laura was able to communicate effectively and demonstrated a high level of professionalism.
Thank you, Laura, for your commitment to patients, families, the department and Mission Hospital.