Jennifer Van den Bout
July 2025
Jennifer
Van den Bout
,
RN, MSN
Children's Specialty Triage Services
Duke University Hospital
Durham
,
NC
United States
Jennifer continued to advocate for this patient knowing along the way that a prolonged inpatient hospitalization could not be a safe solution for this child despite seeming inevitable as each road block came up.
Jennifer is a tireless advocate for all of her patients and their families and doesn't take "no" as a satisfactory answer for any of the things that her patients need. Taking care of children with medical complexity can be incredibly challenging, and we are faced with many barriers and unique challenges that arise along the journey of the child's life.
This past November, the mother of one of Jennifer's patients reached out because she needed to have orthopedic surgery for a torn rotator cuff, and she wasn't sure how she was going to make this happen because she is her child's primary caregiver (with the support of some nursing hours that had recently been decreased). The patient's mother was unable to schedule her own surgery until the surgeon had documented proof that her child was going to have in-home nursing around the clock for the six weeks of recovery she would need (since she would have lifting restrictions). Despite reaching barriers to securing the needed services, including a denial from Medicaid for additional nursing hours that were requested through a letter of medical necessity that Jennifer drafted, Jennifer continued to advocate for this patient knowing along the way that a prolonged inpatient hospitalization could not be a safe solution for this child despite seeming inevitable as each road block came up. Jennifer worked with her team to facilitate a meeting with the Case Management leadership team and the Complex Care Team to discuss possible solutions. Jennifer also escalated these concerns to physician leadership.
Finally, Jennifer was able to get the right people connected, which resulted in an unprecedented connection between hospital physician leadership and the NC Medicaid senior physician leadership and this patient was able to get approved for funding for the private duty nursing hours that she needed so her mother could receive the surgery she needed to continue to serve as the child's primary caregiver. It is easy to overlook the needs of the parents and caregivers of our patients and families and have a "not my job" or "I tried my best" mentality, but Jennifer simply wouldn't consider that an acceptable answer and advocated for the needs of her patient and their caregiver until an acceptable solution was achieved. Great work and incredible advocacy, Jennifer! Jennifer inspires me and her other peers to be better nurses by the work she does every day. Thank you, Jennifer!
This past November, the mother of one of Jennifer's patients reached out because she needed to have orthopedic surgery for a torn rotator cuff, and she wasn't sure how she was going to make this happen because she is her child's primary caregiver (with the support of some nursing hours that had recently been decreased). The patient's mother was unable to schedule her own surgery until the surgeon had documented proof that her child was going to have in-home nursing around the clock for the six weeks of recovery she would need (since she would have lifting restrictions). Despite reaching barriers to securing the needed services, including a denial from Medicaid for additional nursing hours that were requested through a letter of medical necessity that Jennifer drafted, Jennifer continued to advocate for this patient knowing along the way that a prolonged inpatient hospitalization could not be a safe solution for this child despite seeming inevitable as each road block came up. Jennifer worked with her team to facilitate a meeting with the Case Management leadership team and the Complex Care Team to discuss possible solutions. Jennifer also escalated these concerns to physician leadership.
Finally, Jennifer was able to get the right people connected, which resulted in an unprecedented connection between hospital physician leadership and the NC Medicaid senior physician leadership and this patient was able to get approved for funding for the private duty nursing hours that she needed so her mother could receive the surgery she needed to continue to serve as the child's primary caregiver. It is easy to overlook the needs of the parents and caregivers of our patients and families and have a "not my job" or "I tried my best" mentality, but Jennifer simply wouldn't consider that an acceptable answer and advocated for the needs of her patient and their caregiver until an acceptable solution was achieved. Great work and incredible advocacy, Jennifer! Jennifer inspires me and her other peers to be better nurses by the work she does every day. Thank you, Jennifer!