October 2017
Amelie
Middlemas
,
BSN, RN, RN-BC
Surgery
UF Health - Shands
Gainesville
,
FL
United States
Saturday night, a patient was transferred by ambulance from another hospital to UF Health Shands. Upon arrival, the patient stated that she was missing all of her belongings. Her belongings consisted of her daily medications, cell phone, and other valuable items that are difficult to replace or are pricey. The charge nurse discovered that the patient was indeed missing all of her belongings. Amelie then reached out to the other hospital, who stated that they were very certain that the lady did not have belongings while a patient at their hospital while the lady was certain that she did. Coming to a conclusion that she did not have her belongings at either hospital, the only other place they could be was inside the transferring ambulance. Due to it being the weekend, emergency rescue did not answer the phone when Amelie attempted to reach out to them three separate times that night. Not giving up, Amelie tried again on Monday, coincidently the day the patient was scheduled for discharge. This time, emergency rescue answered, and the nurse was able to speak directly to the driver of the ambulance who transferred the patient. Good news, they did, in fact, have all of her belongings and personally drove here to return them to her. The patient was very grateful for the continuous effort that Amelie put into helping her retrieve her valuable items just in time for her departure.