Alicia's clinical skill and especially her compassionate care exemplify the kind of nurse that our patients, our families, and our staff recognize as an outstanding role model.
Seamless excellence—these words in some small way capture the essence of how Alicia conducts her nursing practice as an advanced clinical nurse educator. In the recent event described below, her conduct with a direct patient experience exemplifies these character traits.
Recently, three of us in clinical development and education were asked to assist ED staff with the high numbers of patients waiting in the ED to be admitted. Our role was to do an admission assessment and document it, thus facilitating their admission process. We divided up the responsibilities. Alicia's admission was an elderly lady, who, with her daughter, had been waiting in the ED since the day before to get a bed. In spite of her pain and discomfort, the patient was so gracious and appreciative, as was her daughter. During Alicia's time with the patient, she noted that the patient's daughter, who had been patient and attentive with her mother, had not eaten or had anything to drink for quite a while. Alicia got her juice and a muffin. The patient was admitted to an acute care unit. The following day, with the patient's permission, Alicia came to check on her. The patient had gotten out of the shower and her IV appeared to have loosened and needed to be restarted. After notifying the patient's RN, Alicia offered to restart the IV. (By the way, Alicia sets the standards of excellence in our department with her history of many years of infusion certification. She is our "go to" for information and guidance in this education). She got the patient settled and comfortable. The patient was extremely grateful. On the next day, I accompanied her when she followed up on the patient, who appeared to be improving. This patient was extremely appreciative. It was obvious that she had established trust in Alicia, who demonstrated both competence and compassion for her. Many actions Alicia demonstrated with this patient were not absolutely necessary in the grand scheme, but she made it her priority to show this patient that she was cared for in every way through her difficult journey. I saw AIDET, caring moment, and relationship-based care modeled effortlessly in Alicia's actions in every way.