July 2010
Cindy
Stokes
,
RN
Pediatric Hematology/Oncolgy Clinic
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston
,
SC
United States

 

 

 

I am nominating Cindy Stokes, RN for the Daisy Award at the request of all her teammates in the pediatric hematology oncology unit. When I rounded this month all the staff in her unit wanted to recognize Cindy for her care of Ryan. Following are examples provided to me by them on how she exceeded expectations for patient care. Ryan is a teenager whose chemotherapy treatments were no longer working. Cindy had been his primary nurse for the past 4 years. At this time Cindy used her positive relationship with this family to support them through this difficult period and also assisted in creating some long term family memories.The family decided they would take a trip to Hawaii for a final family vacation. They had a very short time line to pull these plans together. Cindy wrote a letter to the airline that assisted the family in getting a better flight. Ryan e-mailed Cindy during the trip resulting in the staff being able to see Ryan on the beach in Hawaii through skype. Upon their return Ryan was in tremendous pain. Cindy elicited the help of the other hemoc nurses so that she could remain the support nurse and Ryan would know that when she was entering the room she would not be doing anything painful. A plan of care was designed so the labs , blood draws and IV’s would not be done through his port and the expert skills of each of these nurse were called upon to meet his unique pain needs. Hospice was unable to obtain the pain medications that Ryan needed, so Cindy obtain these medications through MUSC pharmacy and personally delivered them to Ryan’s house. One weekend Ryan’s school friends were getting together at his home for a drum jam. Cindy went to Ryan’s house and participated in this event by playing the drums, bringing her own teenage son and being there for Ryan. These positive experiences will always be remembered by his family and also allowed her the opportunity to dialogue with Ryan about his impending death outside the hospital and clinic environment. All these experiences helped prepare the child and the family and created a positive approach to a terrible situation. Ryan’s family e-mailed Cindy specific questions so she could assist them through all aspects of the palliative care process. Ryan’s dad even called her from the funeral home prior to his death to review plans as he valued Cindy’s opinion and he wanted to create the best experience possible for his son and family.At the very end hospice was unable to meet some of the needs related to pain medication administration and blood work that needed to be obtained. We do not have pediatric hospice in Charleston. Cindy made arrangements to transfer the care of her clinic patients to her hemoc team and drove to Ryan’s house to meet his needs. He expired prior to her arrival and Cindy remained with the family during this transitioning period, again providing that additional level of support. Cindy demonstrates the highest level of clinical skills, expert nursing care and care coordination. In addition Cindy has the added gift of being able to effectively communicate during stressful unpleasant situations taking these situations and turning them into positive memories.