Recognizing when a nurse is assigned an infrequently occurring case, he rearranges his schedule to partner with the nurse so she can comfortably complete the procedure. He shares his vast knowledge to ensure the best possible patient experience and to reduce stress on staff. This enables the nurse to mature in her nursing practice. Being approachable reveals such a solid moral character, as he has built trust and confidence from his co-workers. During a bad weather event, he sent everyone home and was the last to leave, then he called everyone to make sure each got home safely. For patient charges, he is thorough and works with the physician to clarify any inconsistencies in charting; this has ripples for audits and accountability, and it is also how he trains others for reviewing charges. Staff respect his plan for the day and appreciate that he has thought through many variables and competing priorities for sequencing of cases.

He has been an active participant on the Nurse Governance Council since fall of 2012, as well as Maestro GI Representative and Super User. His work ethic is living Duke Values in a quiet, humble way. He has spent eight of his 30+ years with the health system in his current department. He is a certified GI nurse, is a member of Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates (SGNA) and CNIV. He supports his co-workers frequently when second opinions are needed, and kindly suggests a different path for the patient’s safety and a better outcome; he can quickly ask the questions and put together a good plan. It is so helpful to have his skill set when there’s a difficult IV stick and he happens to be walking past with one hundred things on his mind, but he comes across as so available and willing to help get the IV so the patient can be on the way for the procedure; again and again, along comes this nurse who smoothly finds one inch of working vein and says, “I’ll be as gentle as I can….”

With his participation in SGNA and Duke Nurse Practice Council, he shares with us (with lengthy, detailed emails), what is newly known, so we can all up our practice to current standards. Sometimes cases in our procedural area are delayed for a myriad of reasons. He helps the family know what needs to be known about delays, and how it is still beneficial to wait a little longer to accomplish the procedure. He shares the potential health ramifications of rescheduling and delaying another day. He is a wonderful ambassador for Duke Nursing to help patients and families to understand the many moving parts of scheduling, procedure time and reasons for delay without assigning blame or revealing too much. He won the first Peer Recognition Award from his immediate colleagues in our department.

Walking a nurse through how to think grows the skill set of the whole group. Talking through patient care options also reflects on teamwork, partnership, a presence and knowing someone else is there for you. It’s a great feeling to have that at work, and this nurse provides it abundantly. He gives helpful reports during handoff, using those few minutes to advise what to watch for, especially related to sedation, heart rhythms, oxygenation or sleep apnea. The receiving nurse has received a great handoff and can look after the patient with a focused intensity. He quietly hovers to make sure things are going well for patients and staff. He relieved me for lunch with what appeared to be an uncomplicated screening procedure, but then the patient had an arrhythmia. By the time I got back, he had coordinated getting the patient to the ED, worked with the sending gastroenterologist and receiving ED MD, notified the family, kept the Charge Nurse aware and remembered the small details of changing out the IV to include a J-Loop. That is very typical for him to think downstream for the needs of the next nursing team.

He exemplifies Swanson’s Caring Theory by making sure no staff or patients feel alone (thanks for being with us all); he informs, explains and supports (enabling); he asks questions to get more information to avoid assumption, thereby seeking clues as to the context and need (knowing); and he competently, skillfully anticipates needs while eliminating harm (doing for). He has excellent gifts in the delivery of competent, compassionate care. He wants our patients to feel confident in the nursing staff and he consistently delivers excellent, compassionate care. Patients ask for him by name on arrival and, recently, a patient wanted me to find him so he could thank him again for his kindness and how thoroughly he explained what to expect. A nurse needed assistance on a low-frequency, high-intensity procedure during a very late night on-call case. She called this nominee, who felt trying to walk her through it over the phone was not sufficient, so he came in to guide the nurse through the steps.

This selfless, witty, highly respected and knowledgeable nurse is one of the finest in Duke Health due to compassionate and safe delivery of excellent care, kindness to all and patience in answering questions; he exemplifies what the rest of us are striving for.