Delia's clinical skills and knowledge, especially her compassionate care, exemplified the kind of nurse that our patients and their families and her coworkers recognize her as an outstanding role model. She goes above and beyond to care for the needs of her diverse patients and family members. While wearing her PPE inside the covid patient's room, I saw Delia gave a substantial amount of time explaining the plan of care and education to her patients and their family members using the iPad zoom conference. She is proactively advocating for her patient. She ensures that the patient receives the quality care they deserve, including early mobilization, despite her patient being very highly contagious.
Delia always coordinates with the intensivist for covid patient's early intubation. Then, once the patient meets the criteria, she will inform the intensivist for an early awakening trial to give our critically ill patients hope to fight against covid. I witnessed Delia followed up with her patient on the telemetry floor to ensure that the patient recovers well and has the best possible chance for a normal life after the patient's fight against covid.
On the other hand, Delia is also a great advocate for the patient's family supporting them for clinical decisions, especially for end-of-life care discussions. She proactively works with palliative care, and sometimes she will initiate ethics consults if needed to support and resolve patient and family issues, diverse needs, and making realistic decisions. Significantly, Delia's positive attitude inspires others by maintaining a calm and professional manner while working and dealing with a very stressful environment. She is instrumental in opening ICU/PCU overflow.
She has shown great flexibility and resiliency in overcoming the unprecedented covid-19 crisis. She could adjust easily with the sudden influx of covid critically ill patients and work with travel/agency nurses from diverse backgrounds and work cultures. She offers help and jumps in to help the agency nurses if needed to ensure patient's safety. She helps enact plans and guide the nursing team by motivating and encouraging everyone to be the best that they can be. Delia is a trustworthy, honest individual whom others trust and confide in. She is kind, caring, compassionate, and a team player. If she sees a coworker struggling, she offers her help and follows up to ensure that her coworker got the help they needed, and their issues resolved.
Above all, her flexibility is exceptionally impressive. She gives multiple extra shifts and takes the initiative to get the third patients during tight staffing and high patients census. She covered the clinician role during the pandemic covid crises.
Until now, she continuously supports evidence-based practice and shares her knowledge with her preceptees and staff. Annually, Delia volunteers to give flu vaccination to WKBH employees to be more convenient for our staff and other departments. She also covered the hospital wound care nurse before, and currently, she is our expert on wound care staging and use of safe patient handling equipment, and a consistent resource for the unit. Also, Delia (together with O) had also created a corner to hang/store our reusable PPE safely. This initiative made our PPE more accessible to the staff.
As an expert nurse, Delia provides high-quality care for critically ill patients, including patients requiring continuous renal replacement therapy (Nxstage), rotoprone therapy, transvenous pacing, and vigelio for hemodynamic monitoring, and patients requiring temperature targeted management post-cardiac arrest. She has a substantial understanding of hemodynamics in the patient experiencing shock; able to intervene appropriately, diligently administer vasopressors, antiarrhythmic, inotropic therapy, sedation, analgesia, neuromuscular blocking infusions, and titrate judiciously, and she shares these skills and knowledge with her coworkers and agency nurses. She examines and questions treatment to determine if they are within best practices.
Delia has vast experience, comprehensive and thorough knowledge, and an intuitive grasp of a patient's condition to apply appropriate nursing care interventions, organize their care plan, and analyze intricate patient care issues. She goes to extreme measures to ensure that her patient is getting the safest and most optimal care using up-to-date evidence-based practice.
Her performance exemplifies the mission and vision, and values of WKBH. She is thoughtful, compassionate, and caring in all situations.
I will not forget about Delia being energetic and passionate about patient care and focus on excellent patient outcomes. I often witnessed Delia stay in the patient's room to assess the overall patient's condition physically and holistically. She respects patient and family cultures and beliefs by respecting family wishes to honor their spiritual activities and answer patients' love ones' concerns to alleviate their fear and anxiety.
Delia rises to the covid pandemic crisis challenge. She consistently takes her time to make her patients presentable, either giving them a good bath, shaved face and providing a relaxing and organize room before the patients' family zoom meeting. She proactively asks me or the patient guest service to arrange for the patients' zoom meeting, and she will patiently hold the iPad so the family will be able to focus and see their loved one's condition.
She is committed and dedicated. She is a member of a healthy working environment taskforce committee as well as a UBPC committee member. She participates and supports the unit HAI prevention bundle. Lead by example by consistently discussing the FASTHUGSSS during interdisciplinary rounding, especially foley use justification order. Delia strives to inspire other staff members while implementing new strategies to promote improved patient care by pushing for innovation. Delia is one of the nurses who initiated and developed the manual pronation protocol to improve covid patients' outcomes. She also initiated bringing out the IV pumps from the patient's room to preserve PPE and ensure staff safety.
Remarkably, Delia shows genuine care to her leaders by volunteering to help her unit leaders to do monthly audit patients' devices (central line, indwelling catheter) insertion and pronation therapy treatment. She also participated in community services such as operation Christmas child, relay for life, etc...and made a basket gift for our environmental services staff.
Delia maintains her current certifications (CCRN) status. She is a great preceptor for our new nurses. She encourages others to attend the national teaching institute for their professional development and be up to date with evidence-based practice to improve patient outcomes. Delia is the backbone of this organization. She inspires others by being a role model, patient advocate, and partner for patient's safety and quality of care.