Keela Hicks
September 2020
Keela
Hicks
,
RN
Med Surg Unit
Winter Haven Hospital
Winter Haven
,
FL
United States
Keela consistently goes above and beyond. She provides compassionate, patient-centered care for each and every one of her patients. She is always a team player. She is courteous and respectful towards her patients, their families, and everyone she comes into contact with. There were two specific occasions that really stand out to me as making her a DAISY Nurse.
We had a patient that was recently in our facility for over 8 weeks. This patient came from home and has been taken care of by her mother for the past 61 years. She has never been able to communicate verbally and her mother and brother were 100% devoted to her care and keeping her at home. Unfortunately, we have not been able to have visitors at the bedside due to the COVID-19 crisis, so her family had not seen her in several weeks. Keela, realizing how important family was to her patient, would FaceTime with the family every single shift she took care of her. She would set aside time every shift, administer medications, tube feedings, bathe and reposition her, give the family updates and sit in the room with the patient so her mother and brother could see her and talk to her. The family was eventually allowed in the hospital for a care conference so they could determine aggressive versus palliative treatment. Once the family saw Keela, they were overjoyed; they couldn't stop hugging her and thanking her for everything she had done for all of them.
We had another patient that we were preparing for discharge. As Keela was talking to him about his plan for the day and the steps we needed to take before we would be able to send him home, he told her he was having more pain than usual. Keela asked more questions regarding the type of pain he was having, the location of pain, etc. She then paged the physician and communicated her concerns. He ordered a STAT CT scan and we discovered a large abdominal aortic aneurysm that had partially ruptured. The physician stated that without Keela's keen assessment/listening skills, intuition, and prompt notification, this patient would not still be alive.
These are just two examples of the care Keela provides to her patients on a daily basis. She truly treats each and every one like she would her own family.
We had a patient that was recently in our facility for over 8 weeks. This patient came from home and has been taken care of by her mother for the past 61 years. She has never been able to communicate verbally and her mother and brother were 100% devoted to her care and keeping her at home. Unfortunately, we have not been able to have visitors at the bedside due to the COVID-19 crisis, so her family had not seen her in several weeks. Keela, realizing how important family was to her patient, would FaceTime with the family every single shift she took care of her. She would set aside time every shift, administer medications, tube feedings, bathe and reposition her, give the family updates and sit in the room with the patient so her mother and brother could see her and talk to her. The family was eventually allowed in the hospital for a care conference so they could determine aggressive versus palliative treatment. Once the family saw Keela, they were overjoyed; they couldn't stop hugging her and thanking her for everything she had done for all of them.
We had another patient that we were preparing for discharge. As Keela was talking to him about his plan for the day and the steps we needed to take before we would be able to send him home, he told her he was having more pain than usual. Keela asked more questions regarding the type of pain he was having, the location of pain, etc. She then paged the physician and communicated her concerns. He ordered a STAT CT scan and we discovered a large abdominal aortic aneurysm that had partially ruptured. The physician stated that without Keela's keen assessment/listening skills, intuition, and prompt notification, this patient would not still be alive.
These are just two examples of the care Keela provides to her patients on a daily basis. She truly treats each and every one like she would her own family.