DAISY Award

Every nurse who receives The DAISY Award reminds us that her/his entire team is deserving of recognition and that it takes a team to provide great patient care.

2012 Daisy Award Winners

Bobby Hett, RN III, Receives April 2012 DAISY Award

A true leader and super charge nurse, Bobby Hett, RN III, might be more aptly described as a tall tree rather than a flower.

But in his multiple nomination forms, all agreed that he more than deserves to be named the April 2012 DAISY Award recipient at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

“I feel so pretty,” Hett said, laughing, when presented with a bouquet of flowers and the award just before a shift-change in the Newborn and Infant Critical Care Unit at the hospital.

As lead charge nurse, Hett is entrusted with a great deal of responsibility for both patients and staff on the busy unit. That ranges from PICC line insertions to difficult IV/lab sticks to ensuring the staff is working as efficiently as possible. But his interpersonal skills make him shine as a leader.

“He is consistently pleasant and dedicated,” wrote Donna De Guzman, RN II, in her nomination. “His positive attitude and spirit, and willingness to work with us, make our working environment as pleasant as possible.”

What’s more, he does it with ease–so much so that he makes his very difficult job seem easy, De Guzman added.

Others wrote that Hett is always available to assist with any patient, despite managing his own. He’s a “super charge nurse” who never gets tired of helping his patients and his team in any way he can.

“When you come to work and see that Bobby is on, you know the night will go well,” wrote Nancy Krasno, RN III. “I must say, rather than a “daisy,” I think Bobby is more of a tall oak!”

Chris Lins, RN III, Receives March 2012 DAISY Award

A few people gave their “congrats” when she arrived at work that morning. But Chris Lins, RN III, on 5 East had no idea she was about to receive the March 2012 DAISY at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

“I can’t tell you how much it means to me,” Lins said to the crowd gathered in the 5 East staff lounge. “I’m rarely surprised. I’m really surprised.”

Lins has been with the hospital for more than 25 years, all of her time spent on 5 East. She has served the hospital as a bedside nurse, a nurse manager, clinical nurse III and also as a nurse information Super KIDS supervisor and educator. During the move into the Marion and John E. Anderson Pavilion, Lins played a huge role in helping nurses adjust to the building’s new technology and equipment. 

“Chris is very well-respected by her peers and her patients and families,” wrote Giuliana Fiore, RN III, on 5 East in Lins’ DAISY nomination form. “Some even come to visit her from South America, and all are very grateful.”

A resource for all of the hospital, she promotes documentation and use of KIDS, the hospital’s computerized charting system. Her co-workers also say she is an excellent role model for everyone.

“She has high regard for safe care and for teaching nurses and doctors,” Fiore wrote. “She teaches and supports the 5 East team in many ways.”

2012 Daisy Award Winners

Meghan Middleton, CPNP-PC/AC, CNS, Receives February 2012 DAISY Award

In a surprise ceremony that included her parents—who flew in from Massachusetts—Meghan Middleton, CPNP-PC/AC, CNS, was presented the DAISY Award at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Middleton’s co-workers from the Comfort, Pain and Palliative Care Program originally gathered with her to “discuss” organizing their work as blue and white chip items when her parents walked into the meeting room, along with her husband, Michael.

“Blue chips, white chips, I was wondering what was going on, and then I saw them come in the room,” Middleton said. “I thought to myself, I know they are my blue chips but what are they doing here?”

Middleton arrived at Children’s Hospital in 2007, with a strong background in pain management and palliative care from her previous career at Yale University. Since then, she has helped grow the Comfort, Pain and Palliative Care Program at the hospital, working to help create a monthly educational series on end of life care and family support and helping to recruit palliative care team members.

With a calm demeanor and the ability to soothe a scared children, Middleton not only comforts the patients and families she works with but also is a strong role model for nurses in the Versant RN Residency Program.

“To me, Meghan is a trusted colleague and friend,” said Debbie Jury, RN, CPNP-PC/AC, NS, reading from Middleton’s nomination form. “We have worked in harmony to develop pain management protocols and standards of care that ensure that evidence-based pain management practices are being followed throughout the Children’s Hospital campus. It’s amazing to me how well we complement and build upon each other when it comes to developing new research ideas, writing for publication or just problem-solving.

“In eastern medicine they say there is a Yin for every Yang,” Jury continued, “these are not opposing forces but rather complementary opposites that work within a greater whole as part of a dynamic system. As nurse practitioners we’ve got this Yin-Yang working relationship … hands down.”

Nida Oriza, RN, (CTICU) Receives the DAISY Award for January 2012

A co-worker noted that she is a strong advocate for patients. A parent wrote that she is a hero.