Kristin Paulson, RN, Honored with DAISY Award

A nurse at Parkwest Medical Center was honored recently with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. The award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s program to recognize the super-human efforts nurses perform every day. The DAISY Award was established in 1999 by the family of a patient who had received extraordinary care and compassion from his nurses during his final days.

Congratulations to Kristin, a nurse in ASU, for being recognized with the DAISY award. Kristin was nominated by multiple co-workers, and you can read her full nominations below:

Nomination #1

“A lady came into Parkwest surgery entrance late in the afternoon stating that she was there for a heart procedure that her husband had set up for her. The surgery waiting team looked her up in the system and could not find her name. The lady’s story changed to her husband was a patient in the hospital. They looked up her husband’s name and could not find him. They came back to ASU for assistance and were matched up with Kristin. Kristin attempted to look her and her husband up in the census only to be unable to find either. She then went out to talk to the lady and try to get some more details. After spending some time with this lady, it was apparent to Kristin that some of the details were not lining up. She involved security and took the lady to the ER for evaluation. She showed compassion and stayed with this woman until she knew she was safe. The crazy part of all of this is the ending of the story! This lady’s family had been worried sick about her because she had been missing from Illinois for over a week! Most people would have written her off and sent her on her way as simply being lost at the wrong facility. However, Kristin trusted her instincts and listened to her gut! She stayed with this woman, made her feel comfortable enough to open up and share some of the details of her life and got her to a safe space until her family could be notified. Everyone should have someone as compassionate and observant as Kristin in their corner!”

-Christina Talley, RN

Nomination #2

“I wanted to nominate Kristin Paulson for the DAISY Award. On a very busy Friday, had she not been in the right place at the right time, an individual may not have had the outcomes they did. A 71-year-old lady was brought from the main hospital lobby to surgery waiting as she told them she was here for heart surgery. The surgery waiting tea grabbed Kristin to assist. She looked up all her information and couldn’t find her in the system. The lady seemed confused and distraught. She changed her story multiple times saying she had been traveling with her husband. She stated her husband’s son had come to get him from the motel they were staying in so he could bring her in for surgery earlier that morning. She searched all of our health system for all names the lady gave. No results were found. Kristin said it didn’t sit right sending her back on the road so she talked the lady into staying for a hot meal and tried to find help to assist. She found Randy Smith who teamed up with her to help her find her family and figure out what was going on. The house supervisor and security go involved. Kristin had mentioned that the patient had spoken about having a puppy in the car. Security verified there was in fact a 3.5-month-old puppy. Kristin and Randy were able to develop trust with this lady and were able to talk her into getting evaluated in the ER. When family was finally tracked down, they stated she had been missing for the last week. She was up in Illinois with a friend and had been on the road for the past week by herself with her puppy. They were able to detain her for treatment and get the dog to Young Williams to be cared for until the family could come get the puppy. The lady was treated in the ER over the weekend and discharged to a behavioral health program the following Monday.” -Sharon Johnson, RN & Christy Yahr, RN