Sarah
Caufield
April 2012
Sarah
Caufield
,
RN
Psychiatric Unit
Seattle Children's
Seattle
,
WA
United States

 

 

 

Photo: Sarah Caufield is picture with fellow DAISY Nurse, Maureen McAfee
Sarah’s commitment and ethics are the strongest of any nurse that I know. ART-full nursing is something that she exemplifies. She has co-developed and/or evolved many of our unit protocols, which have all made the care the patients receive that much more consistent and effective. I know of no other nurse on our unit that has continuously worked to advance our protocols for so many years. She holds providers and floor staff accountable by being supportive, yet transparent about her assessments. Over the last year she has paved the way for nursing to be involved in the intake process more extensively, and it is impressive to read her intake documentation that shows her level of psychiatric experience is on par with most of the providers that hold advanced training or graduate level degrees. She is a role model in field of nursing and someone that I look to for guidance as a relatively new RN.
Sarah has taken on many roles in the IPU, including entering a clinician role of completing many of the admission evaluations for patients on the unit. I have found her admission notes to be thorough and well-written. As a clinician on the unit (psychiatry fellow) while on call on a holiday weekend, I prepared to complete an admission for a new patient; however, Sarah offered to do so and did! I greatly appreciated this as an on-call provider. Despite taking on the role of an admitting provider, Sarah has many other roles, including as a resource nurse, and in refilling medications for our clinic patients. I have heard several praises of Sarah by patients' parents, and I too have appreciated working with her.
It is with great enthusiasm and much pleasure that I recommend Sarah Caufield, RN for a DAISY Award. Sarah is a nurse who has worked on the Inpatient Psychiatric Unit and Seattle Children’s Hospital for approximately 22 years. Having worked in a number of different hospitals over the course of my own career, I have to say that Sarah is “hands down” one of most talented and extraordinary nurses with whom I have ever had the pleasure to work. She brings honor to her profession and dignity to her patients on a daily basis. In her 22 years on the IPU, Sarah has pretty much seen and done it all—she has been a part of the IPU at its best and worst and has worn many different hats. Through it all, a few things have stood out--Sarah loves nursing, is a tireless advocate for her patients, and works diligently to ensure that everything we do on the IPU is evidence-based and in the best interest of the health, safety, and well being of the patients and families we serve. To this end, she is a consummate professional and goes about her business in a quiet, competent, and diligent manner each and every day. Although she is never one to boast, she is also never one to be complacent, gloss over policy and procedure, or minimize the importance or gravity of her work and the nursing decisions she makes on a daily basis. Given her extreme competence, Sarah has become a “go to” resource on the unit and has been an instrumental part of both program and process development over the years. She is simply amazing, a “first round draft choice,” and the nurse I would want at a loved one’s beside!