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My Daisy Experience
Tim Hockenbury
As health care professionals, we are faced daily with challenges that can be for the best,
and at times, the not so best. For myself, I have been in healthcare the best part of my adult life.
As a firefighter, paramedic, flight paramedic and currently a registered nurse. In each of these
professions, I have been fortunate to be there for those in need. I have made the best of some of
the most terrible situations in these patients and family lives. Of the many cases I have been
involved in, one more recently has had a lasting impact on my nursing career. It has been the
My nursing career began only 5 years ago. I decided before graduating that my practice
would be in intensive care units and cardiac surgery postoperative would be my goal. While
working at the University of Virginia medical center (UVA), a Magnet facility, I landed in the
Thoracic Cardiovascular Postoperative Intensive Care Unit (TCVICU). This unit is referred to
throughout the hospital as the PO for short. Interestingly, you can say the PO to even those
retired from UVA, and they will instantly know the unit. For an ICU, it always had a reputation
for being top-notch, and it felt as if you were in a fraternity of sorts, very intense and exciting
While working in the PO, I was able to take care of some of the sickest patients I had
seen in my nursing career. There are a few I will never forget, but one, in particular, I will
always remember. One of these patients was an 86 year old retired gentleman and owner of a
cattle farm in northern Virginia. He was flown into UVA after collapsing while working with his
cattle. He had sufferer a terrible type A Aortic dissection that had involved his coronary sinus as
well. I was assigned to him and received him post-op and cared for him for the next three weeks.
Caring for this gentleman was one of the most challenging cases I can remember. Caring
for the family was also part of the care plan. He was recently widowed and had two very caring
daughters that spent there the entire time of his stay in town and, for the most part, bedside. I got
to know them very well as they did me. One of these days, while talking to his daughter’s, one of
them was telling me stories of his life and how he came to cattle farming. These cows he raised
were only for his enjoyment love, and lived a great life roaming his farm. One of the statements
his youngest daughter made during a quiet time was, "If he could just look out the window and
see his cows, it would just lift him up and make his day." I took it upon myself at that moment to
make it happen. In the hallways throughout the fourth floor are pictures of farm animals, and
one, in particular, is a cow I would see every day getting off the elevator. I went into the hall and
retrieved the picture and brought it into the room, and placed it at the foot of the gentlemen’s
bed. It was a memorable moment for the family, coworkers, and myself.
I received the DAISY Award from this family sometime after the patient had been
transferred to a long-term care facility and passed away shortly after that. I never put any
thoughts into the DAISY or what it stood for, so it was a complete surprise. I was pulled off my
assignment after a long night by my unit manager and her assistant just before shift change. I was
met at the nurse's station by the entire night and day staff along with the Chief Operations
Officer, Chief Nursing Officer, and Chief Medical Director of TCVICU. It was one of the
proudest moments in my career. Amongst all the nominations throughout this vast institution, I
was selected for the award. One of only four that had won the award on this unit. My coworkers
kidded about how I won it after; it was the "Cow picture patient award," but it was more than
that.
DAISY 4
As a magnet facility, there are many more opportunities driven by even one of the smaller
things like the DAISY Award. The DAISY Award can impact multiple components of the
Magnet model. In this instance, I would have to say the exemplary professional practice
component seems appropriate. The DAISY is a source for facilities to improve patient outcomes,
nurse satisfaction, and meaningfully recognizing nurse practice to facilitate nurse retention and
turnover rates (“Magnet Model,” 2020). For me, this award was more than just the "Cow
painting." It has shown me that there are vital factors that make a facility great, and possibly
being a Magnet facility is a step in that direction. I want to conclude with the comments from the
family taken from the DAISY Foundation (2020) web site and how it speaks volumes about
nursing recognition as an advocate, collaborator, and caregiver (Barnes, Barnes, & Sweeney,
2016).
…….“My father has been in the ICU for two weeks and counting and we have been
fortunate to have Tim as our nurse a number of times. He obviously sees very sick patients
every day, but we only know the single one: our dad. Tim approaches patient care as if my
Dad is the most important patient he's ever had. He has even stopped by to say hello when
he's assigned elsewhere and has offered an extra pair of hands to other nurses many times.
His dedication to the care of our whole family, in addition to the minute-to-minute medical
challenges presented by an 82-year-old man with multiple heart issues, are impossible to
overstate. My Dad has been sedated, on a ventilator and continuous dialysis, yet Tim speaks
kindness to a man who may not even be aware of it. But as we, his family, sit by his bedside,
we are aware of the compassion Tim provides to our Dad and others.
DAISY 5
The prognosis for my Dad was bleak even before surgery. And the multiple heart
problems during and following surgery created an incredibly unstable situation for the first
week that my Dad was in ICU. From cardiac arrest the first day to unpredictable drops in blood
pressure, kidney shutdown, pneumonia, and other complications, the road for my Dad was rocky
with no clear happy ending for some time. I believe that Tim's medical knowledge and his astute
attention to the patient, not just the numbers on a screen, gave my Dad a chance that he might
not otherwise have had. Tim has just been amazing to watch with my elderly father. Tim has
been respectful of my Dad, and so compassionate in the care he has provided. He seems very
worried about him and watches his screens for any sign of distress. Tim spends much more time
in the room with my Dad than anyone else. I know they are watching the monitors from the
station, but Tim is watching his face and his hands, the motions of his legs for any signs of a
need or a change in his condition. I can't tell you how reassuring this was for all of us,
Tim is obviously very well regarded by the doctors and other nurses too. They ask him
his opinion on things and take his recommendations in terms of pain relief and positioning my
Dad for his ultimate comfort. For example, Tim was a big proponent of not waiting through the
weekend to have my Dad's vent relocated from his mouth to his neck. Tim knew doing this
would ease my Dad's discomfort considerable and he was vocal about this with the doctors when
References
Barnes, B., Barnes, M., & Sweeney, C. D. (2016). Putting the “Meaning” in Meaningful
Recognition of Nurses. Journal of Nursing Administration, 46(10), 508–512.
https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000000394