Allie Barkes
June 2019
Alexandra
Barkes
,
BSN, RN
Surgical Care Unit
Children's National Medical Center
Washington
,
DC
United States

 

 

 

I am the mother of a patient of CNMC. My daughter was hospitalized three times in the Surgical Care Unit in about a 20-day period. So we've seen a lot of different nurses. Among all of the nurses we had, Allie stood out to be the best in a lot of aspects. She was caring, understanding, very responsive, and showed empathy in all situations. My daughter told me that Allie is very nice and she likes her. Allie was very on schedule, made sure that the antibiotics were given right on time. This seems to be standard practice and is quite important indeed. However, not all nurses follow the schedule closely. Allie also checked my daughter's drainage a few times during her shifts and measured and cleaned her urine on time. At one of her shifts, I shared my concern that a drainage tube may be clogged. She checked. She also asked another nurse to be present with her when she was ready to flush the drain to ensure she did not miss anything. They found the wire that connects to the drainage tube was twisted and that was probably the reason why the fluid wasn't draining. So they untwisted the wire and Allie flushed the tube and the flow of the drain was restored. Also during my daughter's stay, I sometimes had a lot of questions; but Allie was not irritated by my questions and did her best to answer my questions.
Allie's carefulness, paying attention to details, caring and showing empathy to our situation is impressive and touching and are great qualities to have for the nursing profession.