Maggie Sullivan Wins DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses
STEVENS POINT, Wis. – Maggie Sullivan is the winner of Aspirus Stevens Point Hospital & Clinics’ DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. Maggie is a registered nurse with the hospital’s Cardiac Rehabilitation Department. She was nominated by a teammate, who wrote:
There was a patient who was coming to Cardiac Rehab following a cardiac bypass procedure, and she was always fatigued and exhausted. They thought her blood pressure medications were possibly titrated too high, and she was sent to the ED without exercising one day due to being too tired and experiencing consistent light headedness. The patient actually required stability with walking due to her lightheadedness.
Maggie did some critical thinking and asked about other things that could be influencing fatigue. She asked about diet; and the patient was very closely following the cardiac diet we recommend to all cardiac patients, restricting sodium intake to a very small amount. Maggie concluded the patient was possibly suffering from hyponatremia (not enough sodium in her diet) due to the common information we provide our patients to be on a sodium restricted diet after their cardiac events. Maggie followed up with Ashley, our dietitian, to find out that about 20 percent of the population do not do well on a very low sodium diet - something that was not known to our staff members. After having this discussion with the patient, Maggie encouraged her to increase her sodium intake to 1500mg/day, and the patient had a remarkable recovery. She had a significant increase in energy, was able to walk for 35 minutes on a treadmill, and had a significant improvement in mood - just 48 hours after increasing sodium intake!! And most importantly, she had no lightheadedness.
This was a great learning point for our entire staff, as some people did not like that Maggie was encouraging INCREASED sodium to a CARDIAC patient! But she was right... per usual! She makes this kind of impact on everyone she comes into contact with in Cardiac Rehab; and this is why everyone who has gone through the program remembers working with Maggie!
The DAISY Award recognizes the outstanding and extraordinary care nurses provide every day. DAISY Award winners and nominees exceed the needs and expectations of patients and families by displaying the Aspirus core values of Compassion, Accountability, Collaboration, Foresight and Joy.
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About the DAISY Award: The DAISY (Diseases Attacking Immune SYstem) Award is an international recognition program that honors and celebrates the skillful, compassionate care nurses provide daily. Used in over 1,300 health care facilities, the DAISY Award was established by the family of J. Patrick Barnes after he died from complications of the autoimmune disease ITP in 1999. The care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patient families.
About Aspirus: Aspirus Health is a nonprofit, community-directed health system based in Wausau, Wisconsin, serving northeastern Minnesota, northern and central Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The health system operates 18 hospitals and 130 outpatient locations with nearly 14,000 team members, including 1,300 employed physicians and advanced practice clinicians. Learn more at aspirus.org.
