March 2010
Adrienne
Edmonds
,
RN, BSN, CPN
Children's Mercy South Urgent Care
Children's Mercy Kansas City (MO)
Kansas City
,
MO
United States

 

 

 

In her position as Urgent Care Outreach Nurse, Ms. Edmonds wears many hats with competence and confidence. She speaks with countless families that their child’s test came back positive or the radiologist saw something discreet on an x-ray and treatment must be changed and she does this in such a way as to make them understand the importance of compliance without frightening or confusing them. Often, she functions as an advocate for the family to help them find an appropriate medication that the family can afford, that is in a form the child will take, that the family’s pharmacy carries, and that is compatible with the other medications the child may be taking. To do this, Adrienne must have excellent communication skills as a liaison between family, Urgent Care physician, primary care physician and pharmacist. She also communicates with the child’s pediatrician about lab results and any new concerns that may have been revealed unexpectedly by tests. Nothing can fall between the cracks and Adrienne is meticulous and tenacious about dotting every “i” and crossing every “t”. Adrienne also takes phone calls from families who have been seen in the Urgent Care and are concerned about their child’s progress. She relies on her clinical expertise and telephone triage skills to decide whether the child is recovering as expected or needs further evaluation. Adrienne also telephones our Level 2 patients who have gone home as well as patients who leave before being seen by a physician to follow up on how they are doing. Her risk management skills are exceptional because of her sound judgment and ability to empathize with and educate all kinds of parents. Adrienne also keeps detailed logs of every EKG, lab culture, and X-Ray taken in Urgent Care and meticulously follows up on every one, tactfully reviewing every discrepancy with a physician and keeping track of error trends and confidentially sharing them with our nurse manager so we can constantly improve the way we deliver nursing care to our patients. Adrienne also takes the initiative to orient others to do her job in a thorough manner. She has written her own job description and constantly updates it, keeping detailed notebooks describing how to do each step so others can be equally meticulous. As a result, families feel that we care about them, our patients receive ever-safer care, there are fewer opportunities for errors to occur in the system and we as nurses are better protected from liability.