Giovanna
Valdes
May 2010
Giovanna
Valdes
,
RN
3 South
Homestead Hospital
Homestead
,
FL
United States
Some nurses have amazing clinical skills, others have a tremendous way with people, and then there is the special kind whose ears are always open to the cries of their patients. This nurse, is one of those nurses. She works in the Med-Surg / orthopedic unit in the third floor, and she has the biggest heart of them all. I hope the following story would be a testament to that.
An elderly patient, just over eighty years old, was left in the emergency room under somewhat suspicious circumstance. She was completely alone; no family members were by her side to comfort her, and she looked like she was in need of immediate help. Eventually it was determined that she had a hip fracture most likely caused by a tremendous fall. As any other orthopedic patient, she found her way to 3 South where she was promptly assessed and mad ready for surgery. The problem was that we could not contact the family to obtain consent for the procedure. After about 3 days of the same situation the doctor’s decided to cancel the surgery and consult palliative care with the goal of making her a CMO and eventually integrate her in a hospice program. For such an old lady in her condition, this was the same thing as a death sentence.
The next day, this nurse was assigned this patient. She immediately refused to accept the decision made by the physician and started looking at the chart for more information. She came across and old number which she dialed praying that someone would answer. It was after multiple calls that her prayers were finally answered. The patient’s son decided at that time to consent over the phone for the surgery. She had the procedure and then she came back to our unit.
The patient’s progress was great, mainly because of the care of this nurse and soon it was time to arrange for her discharge. One of our case managers dialed the same number to speak once again with the son to decide and discuss what the needs of the patient and family were for a happy return home. The son never answered and we had already noticed that in almost 10 days of admission the patient had had no visitors. After a few days of trying case management was able to set up transportation to Orlando to the residence of a niece that had previously taken care of her, but the patient was not insured and the ambulance ride was about nineteen hundred dollars. The son was only able to come up with fifteen hundred.
This nurse once again sprung into action. She started asking her fellow peers for small donations so that the total amount could be reached. After a short four hours, she already had all the money she needed, but then CEO Bill Duquette walked in. She had the nerve to approached him and ask for more donations towards her not so little cause. After some consideration, he decided to provide funds not only to complete the remaining amount, but also to match what the nurse had already collected.
I wish I could say the story had a happy ending, but we identified some more issues that brought into question the safe discharge of the patient to the family. But it does not matter because the DAISY Award is intended for those very special nurses with above and beyond caring and compassion not just for their patients but for their profession as well. This nurse in my opinion represents everything this award is meant for.
Winning Nurse: Giovanna Valdez, RN
An elderly patient, just over eighty years old, was left in the emergency room under somewhat suspicious circumstance. She was completely alone; no family members were by her side to comfort her, and she looked like she was in need of immediate help. Eventually it was determined that she had a hip fracture most likely caused by a tremendous fall. As any other orthopedic patient, she found her way to 3 South where she was promptly assessed and mad ready for surgery. The problem was that we could not contact the family to obtain consent for the procedure. After about 3 days of the same situation the doctor’s decided to cancel the surgery and consult palliative care with the goal of making her a CMO and eventually integrate her in a hospice program. For such an old lady in her condition, this was the same thing as a death sentence.
The next day, this nurse was assigned this patient. She immediately refused to accept the decision made by the physician and started looking at the chart for more information. She came across and old number which she dialed praying that someone would answer. It was after multiple calls that her prayers were finally answered. The patient’s son decided at that time to consent over the phone for the surgery. She had the procedure and then she came back to our unit.
The patient’s progress was great, mainly because of the care of this nurse and soon it was time to arrange for her discharge. One of our case managers dialed the same number to speak once again with the son to decide and discuss what the needs of the patient and family were for a happy return home. The son never answered and we had already noticed that in almost 10 days of admission the patient had had no visitors. After a few days of trying case management was able to set up transportation to Orlando to the residence of a niece that had previously taken care of her, but the patient was not insured and the ambulance ride was about nineteen hundred dollars. The son was only able to come up with fifteen hundred.
This nurse once again sprung into action. She started asking her fellow peers for small donations so that the total amount could be reached. After a short four hours, she already had all the money she needed, but then CEO Bill Duquette walked in. She had the nerve to approached him and ask for more donations towards her not so little cause. After some consideration, he decided to provide funds not only to complete the remaining amount, but also to match what the nurse had already collected.
I wish I could say the story had a happy ending, but we identified some more issues that brought into question the safe discharge of the patient to the family. But it does not matter because the DAISY Award is intended for those very special nurses with above and beyond caring and compassion not just for their patients but for their profession as well. This nurse in my opinion represents everything this award is meant for.
Winning Nurse: Giovanna Valdez, RN