The General Surgical Unit (GSU) at Renown Regional Medical Center is a unit that not only strives to be the best unit they can be but also strives to provide the best patient care. The GSU team works effortlessly together and is always welcoming not only to new staff, but also staff from all over the hospital that graciously float to GSU when they are in need. GSU personnel consistently inspire others through hard work, dedication, integrity, compassionate hearts, and undivided attention to patient and family care.
We can start by recognizing GSU's one and only manager, Deanna Olson. Deanna is an individual who leads by example. She is always encouraging others to be the best they can be. She is constantly going above and beyond for her employees, whether it's staying extra hours to make sure the unit is running smoothly, helping make phone calls to other staff members when we are short-staffed, or organizing/cleaning the unit to make finding things around the unit so much easier. Recently Renown had an unexpected system outage, which caused us to go into system downtime. Deanna was out on the floor making sure the staff had everything they needed and educated us on how to complete downtime forms correctly. Once downtime was finally over, Deanna took it upon herself to create a binder with every single downtime form and filled it out with examples, so we were prepared for the next system downtime. Now imagine how many forms, and how many packets are needed for every patient on the unit. She organized folders with forms and organized them so we could easily access them. This took Deanna weeks to complete, but she did it with a smile on her face, and with no hesitation. This famous downtime binder has become very popular for other units as well. Not only does Deanna lead by example, in the workplace, but also outside. She strives for excellence by providing care amongst staff, patients, and our community. While at her son's baseball game she was approached by a stranger asking for help. Along with another nurse, Deanna saved an elderly woman who had become unresponsive and pulseless in a bathroom. Deanna performed compressions until EMS arrived. Thanks to her and this nurse, this woman is alive. Deanna was awarded Top Talent of the Quarter, which was then nominated for Top Talent of the Year.
Next, GSU's four outstanding supervisors. Our supervisors' most overlooked and best-executed part of their job is scheduling. They pay utmost attention to ensuring our floor is fully staffed, while simultaneously trying to honor work and vacation preferences. Our supervisors make this appear effortless. They are vivacious, positive, and supportive. Danielle one of GSU's dayshift supervisors recently cared for a patient who was dying from cancer. One of the patient's most important request was to eat coffee ice cream. Unfortunately, the hospital did not carry this flavor of ice cream, however, Danielle went above and beyond and called her husband. Danielle asked her husband to go to the store to buy the ice cream this patient was requesting, and he did. This patient was beyond ecstatic when he realized what was sitting on his bedside table. Celi, one of our newest dayshift supervisors goes above and beyond for our patients and staff daily. Along with supervisor tasks, she is also a part of the skin team. When Celi is charge nurse, she is always offering assistance and never lets her team struggle, she truly defines collaboration. A patient stated about one of our nightshift supervisors, "PJ was very compassionate and caring, and really listened to my concerns. He did everything he could to make me feel better, which included calling the physician in the middle of the night to change my nausea medications around".
That is just one of the many times PJ has made a patients' stay that much better. Melissa, another one of our nightshift supervisors put together a visibility board with pictures and comments, to showcase employees of the month, award winners, and updated information about different committees. It has been a real addition to the floor and has been praised by many other unit managers and directors.
The General Surgical Unit houses a variety of award recipients, to include Top Talent, Nurses of Achievement, and individual DAISY Award Honorees. GSU has the honor of another Top Talent of the Quarter recipient, Kim Wallace, for her efforts in helping a motorcyclist who had crashed into a school bus, while taking her son to school. Kim also performed CPR until help arrived. Unfortunately, this man was not as fortunate with his outcome, but regardless of the circumstances, Kim did everything she could to help save this man. Kim's son made it to school, a little late, but he made it. Madison Arlin, another one of our amazing nurses, won Rookie of the Year at the Northern Nevada Nurses of Achievement 2019 award ceremony, for the genuine difference she made in a patient's life. This specific patient had lost his wife tragically in an accident, which he survived. Madison was there to lend a warm heart and listening ears to help this patient get through this tough time. GSU has many DAISY Award Honorees: Madison Arlin for her relentless and caring efforts with a patient who was homeless and discharging with many needs, Sam Lee for her advocacy with a non-verbal severely debilitated patient, and Tahni Murphy for her caring efforts for a patient and family with a poor prognosis.
Recently, we had a patient who was on comfort care and his death was imminent. Unfortunately, the patient did not have any family or friends close to him. The GSU team went around the unit and gathered as many flowers and balloons as they could and filled his room. The patient passed later that night. Although we expected this patient to pass, we wanted his last few days to be special for him. The GSU team demonstrated care and excellence when it came to this patient. Another long-term patient that ultimately chose comfort care, too, did not have family to be by his side. This patient expressed to us his religion and his love for gospel music. He also divulged to us that he once sang in a gospel choir. Up until his last days, one of our CNA's Grace would read him verses of the bible every time she rounded on him. Our nightshift unit clerk, Sarah, would come in on her days off to sit with him and play gospel music just so he would not feel alone. Michael, our nightshift nurse, had a patient who had just transitioned to comfort care and he took time out of his shift to make calls and ensure that family could come to see and be with the patient before they passed, as it seemed imminent. Unfortunately, the patient did not have family in the area, so Michael communicated with them and they were able to get some friends who were in the area to be with the patient during this time. He was able to remain calm and still made the family feel as though he had a lot of time to spend with them, answer their questions, and ensure all their needs were being met.
GSU takes great pride in the care we provide our patients and at no time do we let our level of care fall below the level of what we would expect for our own family. This was proven with our nightshift nurse, Tamara, who had a patient that was extremely claustrophobic and was having difficulty in their room. Tamara took the patient, in their bed, and wheeled them into the lobby to view the city lights which helped to ease the feeling of claustrophobia for this patient. We also cared for a special needs patient that was very scared and needed something to comfort them during their stay. Ashley, our nightshift nurse, called over to the Pediatric Unit to see if they had any stuffed animals that she could give to her patient. They had one stuffed animal left, which Ashley gave to the patient and made this patient feel safe and secure while in the hospital. But, it did not sit well with Ashley that the Pediatric Unit did not have any more stuffed animals to give to their patients. Ashley took it upon herself to ask our team for donations of gently used or brand new stuffed animals. The number of stuffed animals that Ashley acquired was amazing. Not only was she able to replace the stuffed animal she took for her patient but was able to give stuffed animals to the Pediatric Unit that will last for months.
As already mentioned, GSU staff not only makes a difference while on the clock but also when they're off the clock in the community. Our current CNA, Claire was driving home from her nursing clinical rotation and noticed a car swerving on the freeway. After following behind this car for a few minutes, the car hit the median and came to a stop. Claire pulled over to see if the driver was okay. She noted the driver to be unresponsive and attempted to open the car door. The car door was locked. Claire ran to her car, grabbed a crowbar, and broke the window. She herself, physically pulled the driver out of the car and noted the driver to be pulseless and barely breathing. Claire immediately performed CPR, while a bystander called 911. Claire was able to get a pulse on the driver before the driver was taken by ambulance to Renown. The driver is okay and doing well all because of the quick thinking and acting of Claire. We are so very proud of her and so proud to have her on our team.
Over Nurse's Week, we had a station set up in the supervisor's office for staff to come in and tie-dye a piece of clothing. We had a long-term patient on GSU who was waiting for placement. She quickly became part of our family and loved to walk around the unit and get involved in activities. We knew the patient would love to have a shirt made, so the team tie-dyed her a shirt, took it home, washed it, and brought it back for her to wear. The look on her face with this tie-dyed shirt was priceless, she was so excited to have one. This same patient was also reunited with her daughter after one of our nurses Tahni, took the time to sit with her and find out a little bit more about her life. During this time, she informed Tahni she had a daughter and provided her with the daughter's name. Tahni had brought this information to the social workers on the unit, and with the help of Tahni and our social work team, we were able to find this patient's daughter. After just a few weeks, this patient's daughter had visited our unit and wanted to take her mother home with her. With her discharge now in anticipation, one of her wishes was to have a four-wheel walker with a seat and a basket to store things in. One of our nightshift nurses at the time, Malia, went out of her way to collect donations to buy this patient her desired walker and filled the basket with goodies. We were all so sad to see her go, but we were grateful that we could make in impact as big as this in someone's life.
One of GSU's Charge nurse's Christine was working on the weekend with no leaders on site. A patient was being discharged and did not have the means of getting home other than a taxi. Unfortunately, the patient did not walk very well due to his illness and his weight. This patient verbalized his will to crawl out of the taxi just to make it into his home. This did not sit well with Christine. Christine wanted to ensure that the patient would be safe at home and wanted to make sure he made it into his home without having to crawl. She wanted to assess his strength and mobility but knew she would need assistance from others. Christine reached out to other units and was able to get a group of individuals together that would be there to assist the patient if the patient was not able to transfer to the wheelchair and taxi on his own. The patient was, fortunately, able to transfer safely to the wheelchair and into the taxi. The taxi driver ensured Christine that the patient would be safely transported to his home.
A common theme on GSU is to make patients feel special on their birthdays because it's an unfortunate time to be hospitalized. An example of this was when one of our nurse's Kaelin, took it upon herself to buy a patient a special gift as she found out it was the patient's birthday. This simple gesture made that patient's day. One of our long-time travel nurses Skye, who has recently become core staff, and has been a wonderful addition to the GSU family. Skye is energetic and always brings a smile to her patients' faces. She brings a positive vibe to the floor that is undeniable, with every phone call she answers, "it's a beautiful day at Renown, this is Skye," truly making it a great day. She recognizes patients on their birthdays by gathering a group of staff members and singing happy birthday to her patient. After a patient's birthday is recognized, we make sure volunteers are notified so patients receive birthday balloons. These simple gestures make a big difference in the patients' day.
It doesn't just stop at birthdays though, weddings are something our staff has made possible as well. On two separate occasions, we have had a patient in the hospital over the time they were supposed to get married. Weddings are not something that are easy to re-schedule, and our nurses, Celi and Nicole, went above and beyond to ensure the wedding still happened even if it was in the hospital. This included purchasing toasting glasses, assisting in making decorations, buying and arranging flowers, decorating the Healing Garden, and taking pictures of the bride and groom's wondrous day. This would have never been possible if it wasn't for the kind hearts of our GSU team members.
GSU has created a family environment for staff, which in turn creates a warm and inviting environment for patients. We care deeply for each other and are always willing to go the extra mile to support growth in a safe learning environment and to support health in order to promote better patient outcomes. This is done through diligent support, encouragement, and team building events such as holiday parties, baby showers, pottery nights, and "going away" parties. Our nightshift CNA, Byron, always bakes a cake for any employee that is celebrating a birthday on nightshift. We also have morale events inside and outside of work. Over Valentine's Day and Halloween, we hand out bags for each team member to decorate and hang on their lockers. Not only are they used for Valentine's cards and candy, but they are also entered into a contest for the most creative bag, with the winners receiving a Starbucks gift card. During Christmas, we provide our employees the opportunity to sign up for Secret Santa. For Secret Santa, we exchange fun gifts within the unit, for those who choose to participate.
During this time of year, we also really enjoy adopting a family or two for adopt a family. We are provided with each family's wish list, which then allows us to shower them with their most desired gifts. When our new graduate nurses are freshly off of orientation and begin their nursing journey on their own, we gift them with a "New Grad Bag," that we fill with fun goodies to get them through the first year on their own. It doesn't stop at morale events for our staff. As a family, we always want to help each other out in times of need. This includes taking donations to help a fellow family member in need, whether it is due to the death of a loved one or to help take the burden off of someone due to medical expenses. We also donate vacation hours, just so these individuals can spend more time with their families during these difficult times.
All of this celebrates success for all nurses on the floor whether they are current employees or moving on to grow their wealth of knowledge. No matter the amount of time one spends on GSU, they are forever a family member of GSU and have our support in all avenues of life. The altruistic individuals that make up our GSU team are abundant, it is nearly impossible to recognize all who contribute. We want to thank those who keep this caring culture alive through their unwitnessed and unrecognized daily efforts.