Sandra Dougal, BSN, RN

3BC Medical Intensive Care Unit

Sandra Dougal is known among her colleagues in the MICU for making each one of her patients and their loved ones feel special as she provides expert nursing care.

“She quickly finds the human being and spirit in her patients and their families and nurtures this as much as she pays attention to their blood pressures, heart rates, drip rates and such,” said Donna Marie Lynch, BSN, RN, nurse in-charge, who nominated Dougal for this award. “Her kindness is as genuine and universal as it could be.”

Such compassion and attunement to patient needs are important in the MICU, due to the complexity of medical issues patients are facing. “Sandra is capable of explaining a complex medical situation to a family in a way that delivers the information completely, but is somehow less frightening,” Lynch said. “She is able to establish trust in her care, and in the care of the team.”

Prior to joining the MICU, she worked for 14 years as the night nurse in-charge on Tower 14AB, where she “mentored an entire generation of new graduate nurses, role-modeling in-depth nursing expertise while providing calmness and reassurance,” said MICU nurse educator Carol Daddio Pierce, MS, RN, CCRN, ACNP. “As a preceptor in the MICU, she possesses incredible insight into new nurses’ capabilities and fosters professional independence while offering constructive feedback—all delivered with her unique brand of realistic humor.”

Dougal also is adept at learning new technology and became a super user of new Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy technology the MICU transitioned to in recent years. She has since been instrumental in the successful assimilation of the new technology in the MICU and providing support to her peers, according to her nomination.

“Sandra is loved and respected by our staff,” said Kathleen Leone, MBA, BSN, RN, nursing director. “She is a teacher to novice nurses and to those who may have forgotten that the essential element of care is knowing who you are caring for.”

Dougal previously worked as a patient care assistant in the Emergency Department and in a postpartum/antenatal unit before earning her BSN from Boston University. She then worked as a staff nurse and nurse in-charge on Tower 14AB before joining the MICU.