You Make a Difference in Internal Medicine

The University of Iowa Health Care Making a Difference program is designed to recognize individuals who have performed in an exemplary manner, consistent with the goals of service excellence, and with a commitment to quality care.

Over the last few months, members of our department were nominated by colleagues, patients, and patient family members for a variety of actions that have had a major impact. Recognizing others is fast and easy with the Making a Difference nomination form.

Katherine Harris, MD
Nominated by C.G., Patient

She’s a very compassionate doctor and has a very good bedside manner. She explains everything very well. Thank you so much.

Jaime Bonner, ARNP
Nominated by Hanna Meyer, Staff Member

I would like to nominate Jaime Bonner, ARNP, for the Making a Difference Award. Jaime works in a busy oncology clinic in the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center. She had a patient come to clinic on a notably busy day, with a new diagnosis of cancer, and a rough first week of chemotherapy. He had a lot of anxiety surrounding his diagnosis, side effects from his first week of treatment, and a general fear of the unknown. Jaime treated this patient as if he was the only patient in clinic that day. She took all the time he needed to discuss his concerns and symptoms, and completed a thorough physical assessment of each system as to not let anything go unnoticed. Her attention to detail, compassion, and patience was noteworthy. The patient expressed so much gratitude for her help and he left the clinic in much higher spirits. Thank you, Jaime, for making a difference as a nurse practitioner in the cancer center!

Daniel Berg, MD
Nominated by Chris Johnson & Lindsey Humpal, Staff Members

A patient was discharged from an outside care facility on Thursday. Late Friday afternoon the patient’s family member presented to the Discharge Pharmacy to get Rx’s filled. She presented with copies of the Rx’s which were not valid and legal to fill. The patient had no medications. Multiple attempts were made to contact the facility, the prescribing physician or team members without success. Since the patient had seen Dr. Berg most recently he was paged to see if he could assist. We shared concerns that this patient had no medications. She is a cancer patient on pain medications and not only was pain an issue, but there was a possibility of withdrawal. Other critical medications were also needed. Dr. Berg answered our call and was very understanding. He was not on campus but volunteered to come back to the hospital and write prescriptions to assist this patient. His kindness to resolve a problem that wasn’t necessarily his responsibility made a made a huge difference for this patient. Thank you for making patient care your priority. We are all lucky you are part of her care team.

Jeffrey Johnson, MD
Nominated by Virginia Heal, Staff Member

When informed of a patient’s condition deteriorating, Dr. Johnson made a point to see the patient at bedside immediately, implemented interventions quickly and continued to monitor the patient personally to ensure the interventions were effective. Dr. Johnson also made it a point to provide education regarding the patient’s conditions and explain the rationale for them. The patient was clearly noted with a decrease in anxiety and improvement in condition after Dr. Johnson’s timely care!