Skiff honors recipient of DAISY nursing award

Shayna Newman, registered nurse at Skiff Medical Center, was recognized for having extraordinary insight during the organization’s third 2013 DAISY award ceremony on Sept. 27.

The DAISY Award For Extraordinary Nurses was presented to Newman following a nomination by Skiff social worker Karen Kriz, who had received a lengthy letter of praise from a patient’s family member.

The patient in question, already dealing with a cancer diagnosis, was in the hospital after fracturing her knee in a fall. Various health-care providers were speaking to her adult daughter about the patient’s current inability to take care of herself.

The daughter wrote that, in her distress over the situation, she believed they were suggesting she commit her mother permanently to a nursing home. “I was very upset and totally against the idea,” she wrote.

Newman intervened in the situation. “Shayna was able to reach out to the daughter to help her relax and give her pertinent information about the option,” Kriz wrote in her nomination.

According to the daughter, Newman “took the time to explain that, if my mother was admitted, it would be for rehabilitation and a short stay. She also explained how it would benefit my mother.”

“She brought to this family member compassion, empathy and reassurance about the recommended plan of care,” Kriz continued. “The daughter could then get answers to questions that had resulted in her fear of skilled nursing facilities, and Shayna even accompanied the daughter on a tour of the facility on her day off.”

The family said that, without Newman’s involvement, the patient would simply have been taken home and not received the treatment and therapy she needed.

“We owe her a debt of gratitude that we will never be able to repay,” the daughter wrote.

Newman was among a total of seven nurses nominated for this quarter’s DAISY Award: Kristy Axtell, Joanna Breckenridge, Carol Hammer (nominated three times), Kathy McCammant, Deb Van Gilst and Sandy Verwers.

“The stories that are shared at the DAISY Award ceremony about nurses exemplify the outstanding care that is provided at Skiff,” said Chief Nursing Officer Katie Heldt. “Recipients are often surprised by the level of detail contained in the nominations, as well as who submitted the nominations, which can include hospital staff, physicians, family members and patients. Nurses take pride in their profession and the provision of compassionate care is ‘just what they do.’ When someone takes the time to recognize an individual nurse for what they may consider ‘just doing their job,’ it serves as one of the most significant forms of personal and professional reward a nurse can receive.”

The DAISY Award, presented in collaboration with The American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), is part of the DAISY Foundation’s program to recognize the super-human efforts nurses perform everyday. The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation is based in Glen Ellen, Calif., and was established by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes. Patrick died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little-known but not uncommon auto-immune disease (DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System). The care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patient families.

Nomination forms are available throughout Skiff Medical Center. The nominations are reviewed and award winners are selected on a quarterly basis by the Nursing Coordinating Council, which consists of professional nursing representatives from all areas of the organization.

To learn more about Skiff Medical Center, visit www.skiffmed.com or www.facebook.com/skiffmed.