Denise McCutcheon, an advanced clinical nurse at Baptist Women’s Hospital, won the facility’s first quarter 2015 Service First award.
She was nominated by a co-worker who witnessed the care and compassion Denise displayed with one of her patients. Denise noticed that a new mom, who had some difficulty with speaking and understanding, had head lice. She contacted infection prevention, then spoke to the patient about her lice. At the same time, the patient’s baby was being transferred to another hospital, and the patient was recovering from her own medical complications.
The protocol for patients with head lice is to prescribe treatment at discharge so the patient can treat the condition at home. Denise realized the patient, who lived out of town, probably wouldn’t have time to do that, so she decided to treat the patient’s lice herself, in the hospital. Denise and her nominator spent three hours combing out the patient’s hair, applying the treatment and explaining the next steps in the treatment process, which the patient had to do at home.
“Where many people would have been fearful of the situation, Denise knew there was nothing to fear, and put the patient’s needs first,” her nominator said. “Denise is my hero!”