Mary Jones made an outstanding difference in my life, the patient, with her deep and caring understanding in designing and implementing the treatment plan of my diabetic edema and foot ulcer wounds. She not only applied her deep disease state knowledge and deep clinical experience to plan, implement an effective treatment plan, but she led other RNs and physicians too by being an expert, mentor and role model for diabetic foot and wound care team. She would give her recommendations, offer to directly demo and teach wrapping and hygiene techniques to other staff, nurses physicians, and even caregivers so that they can all become quickly competent and knowledgeable to treat wound care issues with diabetics.
She made a difference because of her expert care, caring and understanding to always advocate for the patient and the treatment outcome, to overcome medical supplies and reimbursement issues. She also employed the, "teach the teacher" technique in teaching wound care and instructions not only to staff but to the caregivers, to me and two of my family members.
Mary knew the ultimate best clinical outcome could not be delivered by her or the treatment team, but realistically would only be 100% successful if treatments could be applied and extended beyond the clinic or hospital, to the home since the clinical cure might take 4-6 weeks. And so Mary caringly, with focus and humor, recruited me and my family to be active partners in learning and implementing the treatment plan at home.She wrote it up in the, "After Visit Summary" under, "Plan of Care for your Chronic Wound." She also made sure to give me a timeline and expectations of how the treatment plan should be implemented, including short and long-term follow up with the podiatrists in her Wound Care Department.