DAISY nurse March -- Wu Jia-Yun

Nurse Wu Jai-Yun worked on the ventilator care unit for 6 years. The patients are all long term chronic respiratory dependent patients. Most of these patients are unresponsive and they stare blindly in the white ceiling every day and that may be the only thing they see day in and day out. Typically the nurse's duty can also be mundane and repetitious. But to nurse Wu, she sees her job is to not only take good care of the patients physically with compassion and enthusiasm but also provide emotional and spiritual support to the patients and their family.

She once had to attend to a 70 years old female patient who was ventilator dependent, and bed ridden after a severe stroke. Her condition wasn’t stable and the outlook was not too optimistic. The patient relied on machines to maintain her vital signs, and her primary caregiver was her daughter. When the physician discussed the DNR option for her mother, her daughter refused and insisted on aggressive resuscitation instead.

While interacting with the patient’s daughter, Nurse Wu Jia-Yun realized that there was a strong bond between the daughter and her mother. The daughter was not married and her mother was her life’s only focus. Losing her mother would mean lose her motivation for other things. Understanding the situation, Nurse Wu Jia-Yun made exception to the visiting-hours limitation, hence increasing the time available to the daughter to care for the patient. Ms. Wu also made efforts to improve the comfort level of the patient, by relieving her pain and providing spiritual support. Through interaction, she soon developed a very good relationship with the patient’s daughter. Ms. Wu helped the daughter cope and grieve. The patient’s daughter began to understand that since nothing could be done that would improve her mother’s condition, letting go may be the best way to relieve her mother from suffering. She eventually accepted the DNR option for her mother, and the patient passed away surrounded by her family in peace and dignity.

For Nurse Wu Jia-Yun, the core of good patient care is to maintain the patient’s dignity and improve his or her comfort during illness. The scope of care is also extended to the patient’s relatives. She demonstrated the core values of Min-Sheng Healthcare Network in:

■ Honesty：
1. Complete duties within timeframe.
2. Follow hospital and department policies and procedures.
■ Originality：
1.Involved in quality indicator monitoring, and in various quality improvement projects.
2. Involve in developing nursing continuous education.
■ Progression：
1. Pursued further academic degree while working at the same time.
2. Voluntarily attended nursing administration training course and was promoted as the deputy head nurse of the respiratory care center in 2010.
■ Excellence：
1. Proactively identifies patient and family needs/difficulties and provides recourses and support.
2. Patient and family satisfaction.
■ Sharing：
1. Is a clinical mentor and teaches new staff and nursing students; she is viewed by others as enthusiastic and a patient mentor.
2. Willing to cover extra shifts and support other units when there’s a staffing shortage.

Daisy nurse Feb. -- Wu Show-Mei

Ms. Wu Show-Mei has been working as a nurse ever since she graduated from school 13 years ago. Her passion for this career grew as her experience increased. Nurse Wu Show-Mei is now assistant nurse manager on the “VIP ward” (the unit that receives private-pay patients) where she has served for several years. From her daily clinical service, she has come to realize that sincerity and compassion are essential for good patient care. She also clearly understands that “Money is not everything” and that “Health is the greatest wealth.”
Here is an example from a real story:

Mr. Tzu was a senior executive at a company. He was admitted to the hospital with end-stage cancer, and because the disease had spread throughout his body he couldn’t undergo surgery. Although he has accepted his fate and try to face positively in the impending death, his primary nurse Ms. Wu soon realized that Mr. Tzu’s was consumed with worries on the future of his wife and young son. Nurse Wu built a good and trustful nurse-patient relationship with Mr. Tzu and his family. She facilitated a pastor upon patient's request to provide spiritual support to the patient and his family, and encouraged him to reflect on his life honestly. Thanks to her efforts, the patient was not afraid of death anymore, he felt at peace with himself and was able to express his feeling toward his family openly. After Mr. Tzu passed away, Nurse Wu assured the patient had proper wrapping of his body and accompanied Mr. Tzu and his family in the final journey of his life.
Nurse Wu meets Nightingale’s spirit of helping people with passion, patience, caring, attentiveness, and respect. She also reflects the core values of Min-Sheng’s Network through:

■ Honesty：
1. Has worked in this hospital for 9.5 years, therefore expressing her loyalty.
2. Pays attention to cost and expenses and never charges the patient wrongly.
3. Documents care in nursing notes accurately and thoroughly.

■ Innovation：
1. In 2009, her quality improvement project of “enhancing inter-shift communication” won the 2nd prize in the hospital-wide competition.
2. In 2010, her patient education poster won the 2nd prize in the nursing department competition.

■ Progression：
1. Actively attends ongoing educational programs, such as specialty trainings of OB/GYN and Pediatrics, mentor program, infection control and quality improvement.
2. Completed nursing administration training and was promoted to assistant nurse manager in 2010.

■ Excellence：
1. Selected as the “best nurse of the month” by patients in May, July, August, September, October, November, and December of 2010.
2. Received 52 compliment letters from patients after discharge in 2010.

■ Sharing：
1. As a clinical teacher, she provided instruction to new staff and nursing students, she is loved and trusted by her trainees.
2. She is willing to cover extra shifts and support other units when there’s a staffing shortage.
3. Proactively increased level of cleanliness and safety in the care environment and won the 2nd price in the hospital wide competition.

Min-Sheng Hospital is very fortunate to have such a fine nurse providing direct care to the patients at the hospital.

DAISY nurse Jan. 大園敏盛 彭淑梅 Peng Shu Mei

Although Taiwan enjoys a vibrant economy, pockets of poverty still exist and families among minority groups still need help to survive. Mr. and Mrs. Lee are typical examples. Mrs. Lee had been in coma and in the vegetated stage after a stroke and being cared for by her husband at home for months. Ms. Peng Shu-Mei RN, a home care nurse and case manager for the Lee family, played an important role of being a communicator, counselor, moderator, and listener. During July 13th to December 28th 2010, nurse Peng Shu-Mei arranged physician home visits for Mrs. Lee, but also proactively led the care team to brainstorm and tried to figure out the best way to provide more appropriate and individualized care. Here are some examples of her great work:
1. The patient’s need is not the only concern for Ms. Peng. She tried to identify the problems of the whole family by interviewing the patient’s husband, mother, son and brother. She encouraged the entire family to express their concerns and difficulties and helped to obtain resources from the community.
2. After identifying family’s financial difficulty, Ms. Peng helped the patient obtain a free O2 concentrator machine, a nebulizer, and other medical devices, and educated the family members about the usage, cleaning, and maintenance of those devices.
3. During home visits, Ms. Peng also discovered the pressure and psychological burden of the primary caregiver. She provided adequate mental support and encouragement for Mr. Lee. She assisted Mr. Lee to do “life review” about Mrs. Lee. By doing so, she encouraged Mr. Lee to build a positive attitude toward life.
4. She proactively contacted social service that helped located a charity long term care center that can take ventilator patient.
5. She obtained free ambulance for the patient's transport to the center, helping to lighten the family’s financial burden even more.


Thanks to Nurse Peng’s efforts, now Mrs. Lee has settled down in a charity institution. Mr. Lee was able to get a job and can still visits Mrs. Lee very often.


Details matter. Ms. Peng distinguished herself by paying close attention to the plight and taking care of the whole family of the patient, and not only conducting routine nursing works. Nurse Peng has been an employee of Min-Sheng Health System for 12 years. She has constantly take care the patient and family in an exceptional manner and performed beyond her job responsibilities. She has consistently gone out of her to helping others. She deserves the DAISY award because she met the MS health care core values of trust, professionalism, innovation, excellence, and sharing. Her performance inspired other nurses, and reminded other nurses the reason for choosing nursing as a profession, which is to be the guardian to the patient and family.