August 2012
Mila
Fajardo
,
RN
Post-anesthesia
Advocate Lutheran General Hospital
Park Ridge
,
IL
United States

 

 

 

I nominate Mila Fajardo, RN for a DAISY award because of the compassion and kindness she showed a patient here in PACU. Her patient had a spinal anesthetic which meant she had to stay in PACU a prolonged amount of time. The patient in the next bed became very loud and verbal with multiple complaints about her hospital stay. It created a very unpleasant atmosphere. Mila recognized that her patient was being affected by what was happening and was able to use humor and kindness to make the situation easier for her patient. She thanked her patient and gave her a "star award" for being such an awesome patient. Instead of focusing on the negativity around her, the patient was able to laugh and enjoy her interaction with her nurse.
Mila stayed at her bedside in order to distract her from what was going on next door and turned a difficult situation into a pleasant one. The patient was so grateful that through all the commotion going on, Mila was able to keep her calm and comfortable. The next day Mila brought flowers to this patient to again apologize for what she had to endure and also to thank her for being so pleasant and understanding.
It seems that often difficult patients can get everyone involved and other patients can be ignored. It was Mila's skill as a nurse that made her realize that she needed to focus on her patient’s needs and make sure that her patient had the best surgical experience possible.