Melanie Dayton is an amazing bedside nurse and teammate. I am lucky to work beside her as a bedside and charge nurse, giving me multiple viewpoints. She consistently strives to keep her patients knowledgeable and advocates for them despite how busy her shift is, as well as being positive and kind. She truly gives 100% effort to her patients regardless of the circumstances. She is always willing to be assigned additional patients without complaint. As a Charge Nurse, I assigned her a patient that ended up being extremely sick and time consuming. The patient had Cardiology, Surgery, and a medical hospitalist following. The patient ended up with cardiac tamponade and the Cardiologist wanted to transfer the patient to CVCU, at the end of the shift, pending a potential procedure. Each physician spoke with the patient’s wife or daughter, but not together. One family member agreed to the procedure with one provider, where the other had declined to a different provider. There was not a clear treatment plan. Melaine used her excellent communication skills talking with the patient’s family and explaining the potential treatment plan, answering questions and concerns. She contacted the Hospitalist and transferred the patient before shift change. This is one example of how Melanie strives to provide compassionate and excellent care to her patients while advocating for them.

Clinical Skills:
Melanie excels at patient education. She does a fantastic job of breaking down complex medical situations in a way that her patients can understand. Melanie’s proficiency and ability to handle high patient acuity with ease leaves her time to focus on the specialness of the nurse-patient relationship. She can easily titrate cardiac drips, manage Bipap/High Flow Nasal Cannula, and communicate pertinent findings to the physician all while making the patient feel emotionally cared for and valuable. In the words of her patient, “She always took the time to explain on my level, knowing full well that she would have to repeat it all again.”

Compassionate Care:
Melanie has high emotional intelligence and leverages this skill to provide compassionate care to her patients. She always takes the time to get to know her patients and find common ground with them. You will often find her in patient rooms bonding with her patients over their shared love of cats. Melanie brings the cat lover out of everyone! Melanie does a notable job forging connections with her patients, so that they feel safe and cared for when she takes care of them. Her kindness and positivity radiate from within and are clear to see every day at work. As evidenced by the patient statement, “Melanie found out we are both cat lovers, We’re Comrades! She knows what to do and when to do it. And how much it means to an old lady.”

Exemplary Service:
Melanie brings her best self to work every single day. Melanie is always having a good day with happiness shining through her and it positively impacts everyone she comes across. She gives individualized and personalized attention to patients that gives them hope and joy. Her ability to connect with her patients by building trust and rapport creates an environment where her patients feel safe enough to hope. This trusting relationship also creates a learning environment where her patients can learn better about their health conditions and medications. As her patient said, “Filling out this form brings tears to my eyes! I thought this was pretty much the end of the line for me. She opened my teary eyes to the doctors and medications and decades to come.”

Continued Commitment:
Melanie is a model teammate. Regardless of her patient assignment, she treats all patients as her patients. This makes her not only an exceptional nurse, but also a wonderful teammate. Melanie is always willing to help the team and keeps the best interests of the patients at the heart of her care. She is wonderful to work with and is always willing to help the unit by taking a patient or assisting a colleague that needs help. D5 was lucky enough to have Melanie when she was a nursing school student. Now as a new graduate nurse, Melanie has quickly become an invaluable and important member of the team. Her positive attitude is infectious, and she is a joy to work with and around. Melanie fosters an environment of mutual respect and collaboration through her willingness to lend a hand and her excellent communication skills. In the words of one of her patients, “Yes, she was even positive and courteous of the coworkers. Showed respect. Very important.”