Michelle started as CPL on the CICU in the Fall of 2017. From the beginning, she took the time to get to know the staff, the specific patient population, and the learning needs of the unit. Her enthusiasm for education and quality patient care is infectious and has benefitted our staff and patients. Some clinical examples include:

-Launching a unit-based skin care team and supporting staff nurses to obtain their wound certification, WTA-C. She is always at the bedside teaching and helping with complicated wound care. We had a patient with a complicated ostomy that needed a bile refeed. Staff nurses had attempted different appliances but were unsuccessful in finding one that fit appropriately. Michelle used her wound care certification and ingenuity to create her own appliance which put the patient at ease. The family was so grateful to her for the specialized care and keep in touch with her often with updates. Another example is one of our patients kept coming back with ICD infections and wound dehiscence. Michelle kept in touch with that patient and the home wound care team to ensure continuity of care and he has not been back since.

-Revitalizing our unit-based BSI committee by recruiting and teaching staff nurses -which has enabled us to maintain a low infection rate.

-Supporting staff as we became Peritoneal Dialysis consults for other units. She supported the PD Super Users and nurses on the floor and gave them confidence in supporting the other units with hands-on learning at the bedside, creating a Peritoneal Dialysis binder for reference which is also available on the SharePoint site, and made herself available by staying late and after hours through FaceTime.

-During the COVID pandemic volunteered to train nursing assistants to care for the COVID population. 

-Leads the HUP Heart Failure Quality Disease Team to improve HF outcomes for all patients at HUP and connects with other entities on improving current practices to improve outcomes across the health system.

-Supported our Pulmonary hypertension population and acting as a resource in ensuring proper dosing, and acting as a liaison with the nursing staff, the patients, and pharmacists.

-Acts as a mentor to newly hired RNs and RNs looking to advance. Not only does she support our staff and patients clinically she has supported us emotionally especially during the pandemic by checking in on staff pulled to the COVID unit and giving donations from her church to staff such as disinfectant laundry detergent, hand sanitizer, and earloops for masks. She promotes self-care for nursing staff and acts as a sounding board for nurses on clinical and personal issues. Chronic patients know her and ask for her by name when they are on the unit as she is always advocating for them. Specific stories from others on our unit include: One of our nurses recalled a busy day that she had a patient with a Remodulin cassette change and though she had done it several times was anxious about it and concerned as the patient was unstable. Michelle walked her through it but she still left worried. She said, “when I returned for my next shift I saw a Cureatr message from her that said she had stayed until the patient went to CCU and double-checked the connections/cassette and everything looked good. It was so thoughtful of her to do that to give me that peace of mind. Although we deal with Remodulin all the time, anxiety can get the best of you, and Michelle's constant calm demeanor and reassurance always eases it. I'm am always grateful to know that she’s there to help with anything!”

Another nurse said, “Michelle is such a wonderful educator on our floor. She is so kind, compassionate, patient, and easy-going. Whenever I have question about a new task, I feel 100% comfortable walking into her office to ask for advice. She often stays late to help set up our PD patients or do complicated wound care. She lets us know that she is available to reach at home if we have questions related to PD, which was much appreciated when it was new to us. She is also so loved by the patients. She makes sure to touch base with many of them one on one and will often travel to another floor to check on them if they get transferred to a higher level of care. Oftentimes patients’ family members will reach out to her personally after discharge to give her an update on how well they are doing.”

“Michelle always takes the time to show you directly how to do things and explain so you are comfortable doing it again in the future. Michelle has gone above to help me so many times. One time I had a patient and family who were very upset with their plan of care. They really wanted to start moving forward with a second opinion and just wanted to have a copy of their MRI done much earlier in the admission. They were discussing leaving AMA. I was unsure how to proceed, but knew if I could help them with getting the MRI that they would not rush to leave. I caught Michelle in the hallway and explained the situation. Michelle proceeded to make phone calls until she could help me request the document. She let me know where she was successful so that I could do it in the future. Then she even offered to go to Perelman for the patient to pick up the CD. The patient and family were so thankful and it completely diffused a difficult situation. Another time as I was looking for a colleague to help with IV access for my patient, Michelle realized that I was in a time crunch because the patient needed a test done. She reached out to the IV team to see if the patient could be expedited to avoid this delay in care. Michelle's proactive assistance makes the day much easier for a busy nurse and ultimately assures the patients receive THE BEST care!”

“Michelle has been a great mentor. She has encouraged and supported me as I advanced to Clinical Nurse III and inspires the unit to be better. She often sends unit email updates on previous patients with pictures and thank you notes which helps keep the morale up and reminds us why we do what we do.”

“As a newer nurse to the floor, Michelle has been great to come to with clinical questions. If I am unsure of something I know I can go to her without hesitation. She has taken the time during my orientation to spend a day with her to go over policies, wound care, and specific unit-based skills that required more hands-on training to become more familiar. I am now more confident in taking care of such complicated patients.”

“A pregnant pulmonary hypertension patient was admitted prior to delivery for prostacyclin therapy. She took time out each day to teach and provide emotional support. We also threw a baby shower for her on the unit. She helped coordinate care during her delivery and her transfer for FP5. Michelle also set up daily visits with the new mom and the baby in the ICN. She also spent extra time with the patient and significant other teaching on Remodulin and how to care for herself at home”

Two pages is not enough to write about Michelle and we could go on with many more examples. She is an exemplary leader and the epitome of this award. We hope she is considered for this award. Sincerely, All the nurses from CICU