DAISY Award—Holly Leighton Cawley

Holly Leighton Cawley
J Street Pulmonary

Nominator: Mark Avdalovic, M.D.

I wanted to take a moment to say a few words of thank you and highlight the exceptional work of one of our transplant nurse coordinators Holly Leighton Cawley. Holly helped to provide secure passage from outside hospital to UC Davis for one of our very ill Pulmonary Hypertension patients. This patient had septic shock from E. coli and has her Pulmonary Hypertension managed by a 24 hour pump for a medication called Remodulin. Holly supported her care while at two outside hospitals, neither of which were familiar with the workflow and helped to support the patient with frequent contact and reassurance. She helped to coach the bedside nurse at the outside hospital on how to manage the pump and communicated with all levels of our system to help secure safe passage. She also prepared our ICU team (both nursing and pharmacy) with frequent updates and plans for her arrival. I would like to say I helped but the real work was done by Holly. This patient is on life saving medication. With less than 24 hours left of her supply of medication, the patient finally arrived at UCD on Thursday night. When I rounded on the patient, she had tears of happiness and gratitude for Holly's exceptional work. Holly's efforts represent the work ethic and attitude that is standard for the 4 Transplant Nurse Coordinators of our Pulmonary Hypertension program. All four are defined by the dedication to patient-centered high quality care. They always seem to place the patient ahead of themselves. I am humbled and grateful for their partnership yet wanted to highlight this particular example as I know that Holly went above and beyond.

Mark Avdalovic M.D., M.A.S., FCCP
Professor of Clinical Medicine
Vice Chair Department of Internal Medicine
Medical Director Pulmonary Hypertension Program
Medical Director Practice Innovation, UC Davis Health