September 2011
Diana
Smith
,
RN
Cancer Institute
St. Joseph Medical Center
Towson
,
MD
United States

 

 

 

Diana is a Nurse Navigator for GI and GYN cancers. She supports patients who are often very ill at the time of diagnosis or recurrence, especially patients with pancreatic, advanced colon or ovarian cancers. Diana always considers the whole person and family, enlisting help from social work, the dietician, the wound care/ostomy nurse, the smoking cessation counselor, infusion nurses and survivorship nurse in addition to physicians. She truly understands the value of teamwork!

Diana meets with new patients throughout the day and sometines into the early evening to offer information, comfort and reassurance. She teaches a pre-operative class for patients and families preparing for surgery. Throughout this past summer, Diana cross-covered for other Nurse Navigators for other types of cancer and, despite working long hours, never wavered in her professional attitude, clinical expertise, and willingness to focus on patients and families.

Diana is a wonderful navigator, but she is also first and foremost a kind and compassionate nurse; always concerned for her patient's comfort and dignity. She demands excellence from herself as a nurse and it is apparent in her work. I learn from her every day and it is a privilege to work with her.