Terri
Carter
May 2012
Terri
Carter
,
RN
Special Care Unit
Anne Arundel Medical Center
Annapolis
,
MD
United States
It is with great pleasure that I nominate (Teresa) Terri Carter RN, from the Special Care Unit, for the DAISY Award. Terri is the embodiment of excellence in bedside nursing. At first glance, she may seem quiet and reserved but she is truly a champion for her patients and their well being. Terri uses her whole being to deliver the best health care she can to her patients. You can always count on Terri. When a crisis occurs, as it often does on Special Care, Terri is always right there ready to help. If SCU is short on staff she fills in when she can. She represents SCU on several committees and is always keeping us informed with her timely emails. She helps to organize the Lighthouse lunches when it is our turn and to collect “goodies” to ship to her son’s unit in Afghanistan. She does all this in addition to being a BSN student in the accelerated program at the Notre Dame of Maryland University, a wife and loving mother to her teenage daughter and her soldier son overseas.
But this is not what makes Terri worthy of a DAISY Award. She is totally devoted to her patients and their families and takes their holistic care seriously. Terri has the uncanny ability to see the experience of being hospitalized through her patient’s eyes. You can always hear her soothing her frightened patients. When you walk by you can see her holding her patient’s hand or brushing their hair from their face. If families worry over their loved ones whose appetite has waned, Terri is famous for her “milkshakes” she makes for her patients (using Boost). She always tries to coax “one more sip”.
Just last week Terri was talking to me about one of her patients who was confused, had been on SCU for a long time and was a difficult placement for discharge. There was concern over his extended hospital stay as the patient had many confused and combative episodes. I watched her as she physically stationed herself with her computer outside the patient’s door so she could talk and reassure him while she did her documenting.
My fondest memory of Terri will always be seeing her kneeling down beside an elderly, confused patient who was sitting in a chair. Terri read to her out loud from a Dr. Seuss book. I could see the patient looking at the pictures intently while listening to Terri’s soft rhythmic voice. That memory of seeing Terri give of herself to that patient is what I think makes a DAISY Nurse!
But this is not what makes Terri worthy of a DAISY Award. She is totally devoted to her patients and their families and takes their holistic care seriously. Terri has the uncanny ability to see the experience of being hospitalized through her patient’s eyes. You can always hear her soothing her frightened patients. When you walk by you can see her holding her patient’s hand or brushing their hair from their face. If families worry over their loved ones whose appetite has waned, Terri is famous for her “milkshakes” she makes for her patients (using Boost). She always tries to coax “one more sip”.
Just last week Terri was talking to me about one of her patients who was confused, had been on SCU for a long time and was a difficult placement for discharge. There was concern over his extended hospital stay as the patient had many confused and combative episodes. I watched her as she physically stationed herself with her computer outside the patient’s door so she could talk and reassure him while she did her documenting.
My fondest memory of Terri will always be seeing her kneeling down beside an elderly, confused patient who was sitting in a chair. Terri read to her out loud from a Dr. Seuss book. I could see the patient looking at the pictures intently while listening to Terri’s soft rhythmic voice. That memory of seeing Terri give of herself to that patient is what I think makes a DAISY Nurse!