Jeannie Patel exemplifies the great characteristics of a nurse that we strive for at Parkland. Jeannie always puts her patients and their families first. She always is working hard to give the best care to her patients and works well with all members of the healthcare team. Jeannie is one of our charge nurses on the unit and she is always there to help when needed. Jeannie frequently precepts our new nurses and is a valuable resource for our staff.
Jeannie went above and beyond for a long-term patient to help brighten his day. In the ICU our patients aren't able to go outside on their own, and it is extremely rare that they are even stable enough to get out of their room. We had a patient who was here for almost a month and was intubated for 2 weeks of that month. He had become delirious and anxious being in his room. He was still on high amounts of oxygen but continued to ask to go outside. Jeannie, who was his primary nurse on this particular day, was able to coordinate with RT to take this patient outside to the Healing Garden. She transferred him to a cardiac chair and took him down with RT on BiPAP where he was able to go and enjoy being outdoors. This immediately brightened his day. We wheeled him around the Healing Garden and let him see everything outside. When he looked up at the hospital building he was amazed at how big the hospital was! Although this act was nothing big for Jeannie, it meant the world to her patient. He asked us to take pictures to hang in his room so he could show his family and remember being outside that day. Jeannie was able to show Compassion, Respect, Collaboration, Leadership and Excellence in this one act of kindness she showed towards her patient.