Peak Performer: Jane Bates

Jane Bates is a clinic nurse in the psychiatry clinic downtown Fort Worth. She is the nurse assigned to me primarily to manage my outpatients. Jane’s job responsibilities include, but are not limited to, taking patients' calls, sending prescriptions, dealing with pharmacies, and others. Jane does an amazing job with the phone calls she gets from our outpatient clients. She listens, acknowledges, understands, and is very patient with the patients and parents. Talking to her immediately puts the parents and child/ adolescent at ease. Jane never makes them feel rushed and that takes a lot of patience and endurance. Jane handles patient calls on a daily basis which range from simple concerns to grave crisis situations.

Since our clientele is quite different from other departments, we often get calls from parents who become distressed when their child is in crisis. I remember one time, a parent of a teenager called, frantic that the child's life was in danger, as she attempted to harm herself. Jane reassured the mom, stayed on the phone with her put the mom at ease. Jane first inquired if the mother can safely transport the adolescent to the ER. The mother said she could not and there was no one to help her. Jane stayed on the phone and helped the mother call 911 so that an ambulance will be sent to her home to transport the patient. Jane continued to talk to the parent and the adolescent on the phone until help arrived and made sure that the patient is safe before help arrived. Jane spent after hours making sure that the patient is safely transferred to the ER for inpatient admission. The next day she called the parent to follow up and the parent was eternally grateful to Jane. Jane went above and beyond to help this family get the necessary help at that time that it was most needed.

​One of many examples would be issues related to prior authorization for psychiatric medications. With the type of clientele we serve, getting medications authorized and approved through insurance for our patients can be a time-consuming ordeal. As with most specialties, it is imperative that we get medications for our patients in a timely manner. However, insurance companies are never easy. One of Jane’s many tasks is to get prior authorization which can be daunting. I had a young adolescent who has severe mood and psychotic disorders, and she was in the hospital at that time for crisis management.

The hospital staff at that particular outside hospital were unwilling to do a prior authorization for a very important medication, without which my patient would go into serious relapse, and relapse is often difficult to treat. Therefore it was extremely important that she got her medications without any interruptions. Though it was not Jane’s responsibility to obtain prior authorization, because at that time the patient was under the care of another facility, Jane took it upon herself to assume the task because she knew how important it is for continued medication. In addition, the family could not afford to pay out of pocket for that medication. So Jane contacted the outside facility to obtain discharge papers to show that that the adolescent is taking that particular medication. Without delay, Jane worked diligently to obtain the prior authorization so that the patient could get her medication and not go without it. Jane knew how important it is for this patient to maintain stability. Jane has done this numerous times for other patients as well

Jane is hardworking, a great problem solver, compassionate, empathic, and has so much patience. No matter what the day brings on, you will always find Jane pleasant and calm. My patients have nothing but compliments for Jane. Jane always takes the initiative to get the task done. Jane is a great team player. She never hesitates to help the other nurses, and clinic staff on days the clinic is short-staffed, even if it meant staying after hours. Jane is thorough, she left no stone unturned so to speak.

For all those reasons above, Jane truly deserves the Peak Performer award. My only regret is, why I didn’t nominate her sooner and waited so long to do it. It's about time Jane get recognized for her tremendous contribution to patient care and went above and beyond to make that happen. I consider myself lucky to have Jane Bates in our department.​