Loan Dang
September 2024
Loan
Dang
,
BSN, RN
Surgical unit
Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans Hospital
Loma Linda
,
CA
United States
Loan was able to recognize this fault and advocated for this patient despite the patient’s uncooperativeness and agitation toward staff. She called an ethics meeting where the interdisciplinary team members gathered to discuss and further the plan of care based on their collective recommendations, which had not been done before.
For a long time after my military service, I counted on the VA for my health care needs. I remember family and friends all worrying about their healthcare coverage, doctor visits, and inpatient stays, whereas I always knew the VA was a constant and safe place for me to go when needed. Becoming employed at the VA and continuing service to my country and fellow veterans has always been my goal ever since I entered the healthcare industry, due in large part to the exemplary care I received during my own visits to the ER, OR, and subsequent ward. When hired, I was precepted by an exemplary nurse. While learning from her wealth of experience and observing her dedication to our nation’s veterans, I discovered why I had such unshakable faith in the VA. It was because of nurses like her.
Her tireless commitment to her duty as a nurse further steeled my commitment to serve at the VA and strive every day to be even half as selfless, compassionate, and knowledgeable as she. The number of incidences where she exemplified the VA standards of nursing are too many to count as this behavior is her daily baseline, however, one interaction stands out. Sometimes, the veterans who serve are particularly affected by the tribulations of service and present to the floor with unresolved issues that bleed over as agitation, stress, and combativeness. The interdisciplinary care team, of course, tries their best to care for and help the patient toward wellness, but this is not always possible with a patient who refuses care. This story is about one of those patients who has been in the VA system for over a year. Despite the many nurses, doctors, and other clinicians who oversaw her care in the last year, it was Loan who recognized a fault in the system.
Providers routinely change patients under their service when patients are admitted for extended periods of time. During these transitions of providers, the continuity of care is broken and often the treatment plan is derailed or restarted, particularly in patients that are difficult to work with as the providers try to limit involvement until their time with the patient is done and they can pass the problem to the next provider. In this case, the patient was afflicted with a malignant cancerous lesion that continued to go untreated due to the constant changing of providers and lack of continuity. Loan was able to recognize this fault and advocated for this patient despite the patient’s uncooperativeness and agitation toward staff. She called an ethics meeting where the interdisciplinary team members gathered to discuss and further the plan of care based on their collective recommendations, which had not been done before.
Ultimately, the patient, who originally had been written off as a problem patient who would likely die in the VA system, was scheduled for elective surgery at another hospital to remove the cancerous tumor. This singular intervention by this nurse likely saved this patient's life.
As a veteran myself, I am proud to count this nurse as a colleague, mentor, and friend. It is with reverence that I hereby humbly submit this nurse for the DAISY Award.
Her tireless commitment to her duty as a nurse further steeled my commitment to serve at the VA and strive every day to be even half as selfless, compassionate, and knowledgeable as she. The number of incidences where she exemplified the VA standards of nursing are too many to count as this behavior is her daily baseline, however, one interaction stands out. Sometimes, the veterans who serve are particularly affected by the tribulations of service and present to the floor with unresolved issues that bleed over as agitation, stress, and combativeness. The interdisciplinary care team, of course, tries their best to care for and help the patient toward wellness, but this is not always possible with a patient who refuses care. This story is about one of those patients who has been in the VA system for over a year. Despite the many nurses, doctors, and other clinicians who oversaw her care in the last year, it was Loan who recognized a fault in the system.
Providers routinely change patients under their service when patients are admitted for extended periods of time. During these transitions of providers, the continuity of care is broken and often the treatment plan is derailed or restarted, particularly in patients that are difficult to work with as the providers try to limit involvement until their time with the patient is done and they can pass the problem to the next provider. In this case, the patient was afflicted with a malignant cancerous lesion that continued to go untreated due to the constant changing of providers and lack of continuity. Loan was able to recognize this fault and advocated for this patient despite the patient’s uncooperativeness and agitation toward staff. She called an ethics meeting where the interdisciplinary team members gathered to discuss and further the plan of care based on their collective recommendations, which had not been done before.
Ultimately, the patient, who originally had been written off as a problem patient who would likely die in the VA system, was scheduled for elective surgery at another hospital to remove the cancerous tumor. This singular intervention by this nurse likely saved this patient's life.
As a veteran myself, I am proud to count this nurse as a colleague, mentor, and friend. It is with reverence that I hereby humbly submit this nurse for the DAISY Award.