A rare healer ensures qualitycare for all of her sufferers, it doesn’t matter what time of day it’s.
It’s an honor to appoint Denise Hauser, RN, BSN, OCN, for the 2024 CURE Extraordinary Healer Award. For extra than35 years of Denise’s nursing profession, she has touched hundreds of lives together with her sufferers, their lovedones and her colleagues. Every individual Denise encounters is left feeling necessary and valued after interacting together with her.
It’s unimaginable to decide on which space she excels in finest: extraordinary experience, compassion and helpfulness. She is equally excellent in every area, as you’ll learn. Denise’s oncology profession has spanned a number of states and a number of settings: inpatient bedside nursing, infusion nursing and the final cease on her journey is within the outpatient nurse navigation setting.
Earlier than receiving her BSN, Denise labored in social work, which has served her properly over these years as she frequently focuses on the “huge image” and seeks to look after the thoughts, physique and spirit of her sufferers. She has curated her personal skilled profession by combining the roles of nurse, social employee, mentor, buddy, spouse and mother into one lovely and selfless cheerleader for all who cross her path. Numerous friends will inform you that Denise “goes above and past for her sufferers and her colleagues.”
The vast majority of her profession has been spent caring for the hematology, oncology and stem cell transplant sufferers at our hospital and he or she, in some ways, has turn into the face of nursing inside our most cancers middle. A affected person must see hematology right this moment? Name Denise. A affected person has some “bizarre labs?” Name Denise. How can we schedule a number of diagnostic exams on the identical day and squeeze in a therapy? Name Denise. The reply is all the time to name Denise. She makes use of her unimaginable understanding of the illness processes and sort spirit to assist her sufferers navigate a really troublesome time of their lives.
Denise shines brightest on the subject of affected person training and advocacy. Having maintained her oncology nursing certification (OCN) for greater than 20 years, Denise has remained devoted to the very best requirements and has raised the bar in affected person training inside our most cancers middle. She is an lively member of the Chicago Chapter Oncology Nursing Society and attends as many studying occasions as attainable. She takes the time to hear, study and community with friends and educators on her quest to accumulate affected person assets. She comes again from these occasions with stacks of booklets, handouts and pocket guides to stockpile her library of supplies in a number of languages and he or she freely shares them with everybody. She continuously references The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Imerman Angels and American Most cancers Society supplies to supply evidence-based info to our sufferers and their caregivers. Regardless of her longevity in oncology nursing, Denise hasremained hungry for up-to-date, finest follow studying alternatives and activelydisseminates what she learns andacquires in a significant technique to our sufferers.
Moreover, she displays on her personal experiences in nursing, what she humorously calls “the great, the dangerous and the ugly,” to deliver actual world, private tales to assist sufferers as they undergo their private journeys.
Of all of the nurse navigators on our group, Denise spends probably the most time offering training classes with sufferers and caregivers previous to beginning therapy. She does this in individual or over the telephone and can stay with the affected person till every query is answered, which might generally take two or extra hours. She touches on delicate matters, drives dwelling necessary factors for affected person security and reminds sufferers that she is all the time accessible for them. Denise is a serious proponent of “doing what is true for the affected person” for the continuum of their care, no matter whether or not that’s two months or 20 years.
Denise’s dedication extends past the decision of obligation; she is commonly one of many final nurses on campus, tirelessly caring for sufferers and addressing the myriad messages her group receives. She is rarely one to query whether it is inside her scope to ask a respectfully query a supplier, problem management or voice a priority. Moderately, she feels it’s her obligation and moral obligation to the affected person to advocate for them, even when it means working late a number of nights per week. She takes outing of her day to talk with exterior establishments caring for mutual sufferers to ensure these clinics are additionally conscious of the plan of care so that each one wants might be coordinated safely and effectively.
A latest instance of her dedication comes from a pharmacist on our group who recounts that it was Denise who seen a affected person’s platelet depend skyrocketed after initiation of remedy based mostly on labs from an out of doors hospital. Denise immediatelygot in contact with the pharmacy and her attending doctor to sound the alarm, talk about administration and was on the telephone with the affected person quite a few occasions throughout this after-hours incident to teach and supply reassurance. Denise’s fast follow-up helped this affected person keep away from severe unwanted effects, and her willingness to place sufferers first regardless of the time of day proves how a lot of a caring particular person she is. That is one in every of tons of of examples to spotlight her care, concern and therapeutic nature all through her profession.
Her advocacy to foster therapeutic inside every affected person she meets goes past the clinic setting. Denise has a strong dedication to volunteer service and nurse empowerment. Through the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, Denise volunteered dozens of hours at our hospital’s vaccination clinic, all the time after hours and in addition on weekends. She has served as captain of the Rush College group for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s annual Mild the Night time fundraiser and stroll. This 12 months, she helped host bake gross sales and off-campus occasions to extend donations. Annually, she spearheads reward basket committees and invitations sufferers and caregivers to the Rush College Most cancers Survivors’ Day. Each summer time, she volunteers her time on the Lymphoma Analysis Basis stroll and receiveda particular recognition for her years of excellent service. She can be the unofficial group photographer, capturing valuable moments and interactions between sufferers and our group. At every volunteer occasion, Denise brings sufferers, survivors, caregivers and friends collectively to rejoice the victories and cherish these misplaced.
On quite a few events, Denise has run into sufferers and caregivers who acknowledge her exterior of labor. Top-of-the-line tales is from when a affected person acknowledged her on a lake from a transferring boat a number of yards away. The affected person was so thrilled to see Denise and yelled to her, “Denise! I’m your affected person! Keep in mind me? You gave me my chemo all these years again and I’m doing nice!” Those that know Denise can attest that there are such a lot of sufferers who’ve shared comparable experiences with Denise. The long-term relationships that Denise has with these sufferers are equally necessary to Denise as they’re for her sufferers.
As Denise winds down her skilled profession, she is steadfast in that she desires her advocacy for and influence on her fellow nurses to be her legacy. Her experience as an oncology nurse is unparalleled; providing invaluable insights and steering to these lucky sufficient to work alongside her and to be mentored by her. Her infectious positivity, character and nice demeanor create an uplifting ambiance that lingers lengthy after her shifts. Denise takes her unofficial function as “work mother” to coronary heart and all the time gives a listening ear devoid of judgment and prepared to speak by means of an issue. She welcomes new concepts, fosters relationships with youthful nurses and encourages us all to develop professionally as a lot as attainable.
She has worn many hats as a nursing advocate serving as co-chairperson for our unit advisory committee, which serves as a protected area for nurses to debate issues and work collectively for options. She has been invited to participate in fast enchancment tasks associated to the nurse navigation function and has been a key member in our unit based mostly oral oncolytic workflow venture, which has produced constructive outcomes in affected person security since its inception.
It’s due to her selflessness and dedication to nursing that she has carved out an enduring influence on generations of nurses after her, who might be charged with selecting up the baton of caregiver and healer now and in future generations. In a profession that’s extensively identified for burnout, Denise is an outlier who has continued to rise above and discover the attractive moments in nursing. Her objective in changing into a nurse and specializing in hematology/oncology was by no means to obtain recognition; she simply wished to make a constructive influence on sufferers’ lives. In doing all of the great issues she has performed and touching so many lives in a means that’s uniquely Denise, she has made those that work together with her higher nurses, and he or she has healed the hearts and minds of hundreds of sufferers and caregivers alongside the way in which.
Denise is undeniably deserving of recognition for her excellent contributions and unwavering dedication to nursing excellence and the pursuit of affected person care, empowerment, and therapeutic.
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