April 2024
Margaret
Awino
,
RN
Correctional Health (West Tower)
Parkland Health
Dallas
,
TX
United States
She collaborates effectively with the treatment team to ensure that her patients receive high-quality care that addresses both their physical and mental health needs.
This is an RN who has been described by her peers as "a wonderful, caring, giving person who follows her heart" and always does what is in the best interest of her patients. She collaborates effectively with the treatment team to ensure that her patients receive high-quality care that addresses both their physical and mental health needs. She cross-checks orders for clarification after thoroughly reviewing a patient's chart and has received the Correctional Health Shining Star Award for her good catches. She is a role model among her colleagues. She can often be found spending time with new employees to support their acclimation into the correctional health environment and as a warm welcome to our team. She effectively communicates with the Dallas County Sheriff Detention Officers, and I have witnessed her de-escalating potentially volatile situations with her calming presence and ability to hear the underlying cause of her patient's sometimes difficult behaviors, which have the potential to lead to an explosive situation involving the patients and officers. She can be counted on to carry out assignments with careful follow-through and consistently follows up to ensure that a patient's plan of care is being followed. She has been informally recognized by medical providers for "going above and beyond in the care of her patients, even when she has a heavy and difficult patient caseload. When a new area was opened within the jail due to an influx of patients, she volunteered to begin the rounding process for that area, collaborated with nursing leadership to create a rounding log, and walked her colleagues through the new process so that all rounding would be consistent. While rounding in that area, she identified two patients who should not have been transferred due to the acuity of their medical/mental health needs and had them immediately transferred to another area, proactively avoiding potentially hazardous outcomes. She is dedicated to providing the high-quality care that Parkland is known for, and we are blessed to have her as a member of our Correctional Health team!