Ginger Wilkins
March 2017
Ginger
Wilkins
,
RN
Surgical Day Stay Unit/Pre-Op
North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System
Gainesville
,
FL
United States

 

 

 

Ginger Wilkins is very deserving of the DAISY award as she has exemplified the ICARE values of the NF/SG VAMC for many years. I have personally worked with her for the last five years and have witnessed her professionalism in many different stressful situations. She has been a coworker and Team Leader in the Medical Day Stay area and now in the Surgical Day Stay Unit. She monitors the OR schedule, ensures timely prep of the patients, and is always courteous and professional to the employees and especially to the patients.
Integrity: She shows this by the commitment to coming to work every day, rarely calling in sick and giving 100% as a worker each day she is here. She does the right thing regarding patient care, never taking shortcuts or work-arounds. She goes above and beyond for each patient while in her care. Ginger is a team player, always jumping in to help other nurses without having to be asked, no matter what the duty.
Commitment: She consistently exceeds her role as a Team Leader, making assignments in a fair manner always trying to do what is right and best for the patient and their families. Ginger is committed to this facility by consistently bringing adverse events to the management's attention so that change can occur and make the patient's experience better.
Advocacy: Ginger advocates for the patient's rights daily by informing each patient she cares for what will be happening to them in the different phases or surgery from pre-op to post-op and includes the family, always, in the care of the patient as much as possible. If a patient is in need of special services she contacts the social worker even though it may hold up the OR schedule or upset the physicians.
Respect: She shows the utmost respect to each employee and patient. She does this when patients are rude and upset about having surgery. She is respectful. She keeps smiling and deals with issues in a very professional manner.
Excellence: From the minute she steps in the door of the SDSU to the time she leaves Ginger is full on with working, she doesn't take her job lightly. She has been a nurse for ten years at the VA and is currently continuing her education despite having many obstacles. She is the type of nurse that all nurses can look up to and be proud to say she is in our profession. Patients thank her, but she deserves more for being a vital part of the patients and workings of the unit.
***
A patient's wife was in PACU visiting her husband who was waiting for a bed. The wife had the flu and had an accident while in the PACU area, which was not Ginger's own area of work. The woman needed cleaning and a change of clothes and was wheelchair bound. Ginger left her busy area to go clean this patient's wife and brought her a change of clothes. She could have asked a PACU nurse to do it, but did not. This is only one small example of her excellent care.