Jessica R Knister
January 2024
Jessica R
Knister
,
MSN, RN
4K IP Rehabilitation
Providence Portland Medical Center
Portland
,
OR
United States

 

 

 

She is compassionate and kind and leads with intention and fairness for staff and patients. Jessica creates a working environment of trust and mutual respect.
Jessica Knister is an Extraordinary Nurse Leader. She is compassionate and kind and leads with intention and fairness for staff and patients. Jessica creates a working environment of trust and mutual respect. She makes decisions with the input of all staff as she cares about our thoughts, our experience, and our skill.

She responds quickly to text, voicemail, email and always has time for staff in person. When our unit had a COVID outbreak, she was instrumental in helping us all access the caregiver health process and quickly check in on us and our well-being. She advocated for us by activating pandemic pay so that staff did not have to use PTO for an illness we all got at work caring for our patients.

Jessica is always on the unit helping us problem solve. She knows what is happening on the floor and she acts when staff and patients need her most. We recently had an admit that had multiple home medications that needed to be sent to pharmacy and relabeled. One medication was not available by family or our pharmacy and had to be specially ordered from an outpatient pharmacy. Jessica acted quickly and asked one of our physiatrists (not even assigned to the patient) to send a prescription so that the patient would receive their antiseizure medication on time, without delay, preventing the patient from having a seizure. 

Jessica stays actively involved and connected with other departments in our hospital. She will easily call the nursing supervisor, our director, our CNO or CEO when we need their executive support. She recently facilitated transferring a patient off our unit to acute care who needed a higher level of care quickly. This also allowed a waiting rehab patient to be admitted and be seen by therapy to start their recovery process. She is quick to call infection prevention and take the time to ask about the appropriate isolation protocols and processes. When there is a question, Jessica takes the time and initiative to find the right person and find the right answer.

Jessica has been an amazing leader to me as a charge nurse. Her cheerful outlook, her care of the staff and patients, her strong leadership skills are inspiring. She encourages me to problem solve and critically think on my own while always being available and supportive. She pushes me to think about things in new ways and step out of "well we have always done it this way".

Thank you, Jessica, for your strong direction and leadership, your true passion and dedication to 4k, and your reliability as a nurse, a co-worker, and a friend. 4K is an amazing unit because of you. You are an Extraordinary Nurse Leader!