Laura is a dedicated nurse and a pleasure to work with. She has volunteered to be a part of our anticoagulation workgroup, working with PharmDs to improve workflows. Laura is dedicated to her patients. She refills patients' pill boxes to ensure that they are safe taking their warfarin. Just this month she went to a patient's home as they did not have transportation so the pill box could be filled. She went the extra mile to keep the patient safe. Laura will also visit her patients in the hospital on her lunch break. She has told me it is important that the patient know she cares and trusts her.
Laura consistently goes above and beyond for her patients, many of whom have a number of challenges, including financial barriers, issues with transportation, and a lack of engagement in one's own care. I wanted to highlight an instance today for which I feel she should be recognized. A patient was discharged from the hospital over the weekend after being started on warfarin for acute DVT and PE. The patient declined SNF placement as well as HHC services at discharge. I received notification of this patient from the inpatient pharmacist, as a SAS referral had not been placed at discharge and the patient was discharged on what we believed to be too high a dose of warfarin, in light of drug-drug interactions. After I worked to obtain a referral from the patient's PCP, Laura immediately contacted the patient to set up an appointment, only to be told by the patient that she was non-ambulatory and would be unable to leave the house. Laura first gave the patient instructions to empirically reduce her warfarin dose at my recommendation then worked w/ the PCP's office yesterday to get orders for HHC services promptly placed, as the patient was now amenable. However, the orders were entered incorrectly, which Laura realized today. Because she focuses so strongly on patient safety, Laura decided to visit the patient's home, with the patient's permission, on her own lunch break so that the INR could be checked without further delay. The INR was, in fact, supra-therapeutic despite the patient's dose reduction, but as we were able to address this result in a timely fashion and avoid further delay in obtaining an INR (thanks to Laura), we were able to provide appropriate dosing adjustments before the INR trended up even higher, which would have put her at greater risk of bleeding. Laura is always a fantastic team member, working tirelessly with PharmDs, HHC staff, providers, inpatient staff, MHCMs, patients, etc. to provide the best care for each of her patients, and she does so always with a smile and kind words. Her passion for her job and her patients is contagious and admirable!