It's easy to look around on the Peds Unit and see nothing but awesome nurses giving everything they have to each and every patient. There's one nurse in particular that I always admire, because I feel that at any moment I can look over and find her doing something above and beyond for her patients as well as for her co-workers. Nichole is the first nurse to offer help, regardless of how heavy her assignment may be, and she consistently does it with a big smile and warm heart. She uses the same calm approach with patients and families to ensure that while she is in the room with them, they never know how overwhelming it may be once she steps outside of their room and they never feel that she is rushing during her time with them or running on a tight schedule. Nichole gives her all at every shift and never expects anything in return.
In addition to her compassionate nature, Nichole is incredibly bright. She constantly pushes herself to learn more and to always ask "why," even if it may not affect patient's plan of care or pertain to the task at hand, but rather just so that she can better understand. She strives to know the ins and outs of every situation and consistently reflects on past scenarios to see how they may have been improved upon so that she can apply it to the next patient. Nichole is anything but stagnant and has an extremely bright future ahead of her.
To say Nichole is DAISY Award material is an understatement. She's intelligent, compassionate, and her families love every aspect of having her as their son or daughter's nurse, because not only do they receive excellent care, but she makes a possibly stressful and scary stay at a hospital enjoyable and fun. We are incredibly fortunate for such a wonderful group of staff in peds, but we are particularly blessed to have Nichole.