Kathryn A. Geraghty
February 2017
Kathryn
Geraghty
,
RN-BC
Med-Surg/Telemetry
South Nassau Communities Hospital
Oceanside
,
NY
United States

 

 

 

Kathryn Geraghty stands out with her commitment to excellent patient care: always putting the patient's needs first, excellent communication with her peers, physicians, and family members. She has a real passion for improving nursing practice and seeking the best outcomes for her patients. Recently, she created a poster along with another peer called "About Me" that is now hanging throughout the hospital to allow nurses and others who care for the patients to know the "little things" that are important to the patient and family, for example favorite foods, nickname, pets at home, favorites movies, family members and friends that are important to them. This goal was to improve communication with our patients and family.
She is empathetic, caring, and establishes great relationships with patients and family. She is the co-coordinator for the NICHE initiative on the unit. She is focused on educating our staff on the needs of the Geriatric population. She has been giving 3-hour classes for the past 6 weeks to 10 staff members. She completed a 6-week leadership training to take on this initiative as well as attending the NICHE conference two years in a row. She recently achieved Geriatric certification, another professional milestone. She is enthusiastic and positive in everything she does, is selfless and works additional hours at the drop of a hat when needed. She is a team player and is always supportive of her coworkers on a daily basis. Kathryn serves as a Preceptor for our new nurses, setting a high expectation for patient care delivery.
Kathryn continues to visit a previous patient whose family abandoned her and now living in a Nursing home, bringing her clothes, bath supplies, and linens to ensure she has what she needs. The patient had lived in the hospital for over a year. This year on her birthday, Kathryn picked up the patient from the nursing home and with 6 other staff members took her out to celebrate, buying her gifts. She was so grateful and in tears.
Kathryn's care is always based on quality and this stands out as she is involved in everything to improve our unit outcomes. She does audits for compliance and is involved in many in-services and reviews. She also is one of the Charge RN's on the weekend and serves as a mentor to all. To maintain the morale on this busy unit, she creates an environment that is the best place to work - always decorating for every holiday and planning outings for the group - this truly raises the spirit and commitment of the team. She is presently enrolled in a NP program with the goal of working with the Geriatric population.
Kathryn is outstanding and deserves this recognition mostly because she never seeks to be rewarded for all she does. Kathryn lives each day focusing on the most important people, the patients that need her. She is truly inspiring and a gift to the profession of nursing.