UAMS Triage Team Honored by DAISY Foundation for Compassionate COVID-19 Response
| LITTLE ROCK – Nurses in the COVID-19 Triage Team at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) were honored by the national DAISY Foundation and the California-based HealthImpact nonprofit organization for devising a screening process for patients who are homeless or rely on public transportation.
The UAMS team, along with five individual nurses from across the country, were chosen as the inaugural recipients of the HealthImpact DAISY Nurse Leader Award in Policy. The award was created to honor nurses whose work in policy advances compassionate care that improves the health of populations.
“As our teams worked to create drive-thru screening sites to test for COVID-19 during the pandemic, it was this team of nurses who recognized the need to improve outreach and access to vulnerable populations who could not drive up to the screening sites,” said Kristie Hadden, Ph.D., interim director of the Office of Population Health, which houses the triage program.
“We’re honored by this recognition for our hardworking nurses, who have been critical to addressing the challenges of this pandemic,” said Trenda Ray, Ph.D., RN, chief nursing officer of UAMS. “This team’s solution is built on caring, which is at the very center of the nursing profession and of our approach to nursing at UAMS.”
The Triage Team approach worked not only to provide screening for walk-up patients at mobile screening sites, but to include consultation services to meet patients’ physical, psychological and social care needs.
The nurses on the COVID Triage Team who designed the screening process were: Deborah Hutts, M.S.N., RN; Rebecca Bryan, RN; and Sherri Traffanstedt, RN.
“Seeing The DAISY Award applied to honor work that advances compassionate care through policy is a thrill we never imagined when we created DAISY 21 years ago,” said Bonnie Barnes, co-founder and CEO of The DAISY Foundation. “The impact of our first recipients in policy is important and sustainable, and it is an honor to launch this very special recognition with our friends at HealthImpact.”
Garrett Chan, Ph.D., APRN, president of HealthImpact added, “We want to congratulate the honorees and thank them for their dedication in advancing compassion in health care through their policy work. Communities and populations of patients have benefited from their tireless efforts in ensuring holistic care.”