Kaiser Downey’s Toshiko Crawford, RN Wins Brightest Star Award

January 2011

When the patients in Kaiser Downey’s gastrointestinal department started showing up unprepared for their procedures, the nurses in the unit took action. They developed a standard set of instructions all patients should follow, put it on one page, and began handing it out to grateful patients who no longer had to reschedule uncomfortable procedures because they hadn’t stopped eating early enough the night before a colonoscopy, for example.

“I didn’t do it all by myself,” said Toshiko Crawford, RN, the nurse who led the charge to standardize the instructions for all the procedures, and the recipient of Kaiser Downey’s Brightest Star Award. “They gave us a chance to help the patients be better prepared. And it was less work for the nurses.”

Karla Bernier, RN, BSN, the Master Committee Chair for the Kaiser Downey Registered Nurses Association, pointed out that “if it works well, Kaiser can use this system at other hospitals.”

“And it’s nice to not have to reschedule colonoscopies. Everyone is happy,” concluded Toshiko.