September 2019
Andrea
Salas
,
RN
Aurora West Allis Maternal Fetal Medicine
Advocate Aurora Health Care
Milwaukee
,
WI
United States
Sometimes, for nurses, heroic acts become almost routine. However, when a coworker becomes a patient, maintaining composure, and being great caregivers becomes anything but routine. On an ordinary Wednesday in our clinic, one of our coworkers suddenly fell very ill. Our two nurses, Andrea and Chelsea stepped in, without hesitation, to care for him. He had undergone cardiac testing earlier that day, and they were concerned he was having adverse side effects from the medications he was given. In the middle of seeing a patient this coworker needed to leave the room because he suddenly felt very nauseous and dizzy. Our nurses, Andrea and Chelsea, settled him into his office, laid him on the floor, got him a cool washcloth, took his blood pressure, and made him feel comfortable. During this time, Andrea asked for assistance from one of our other physicians, a cardiologist, who was in the clinic that day as well. He recommended that the coworker be evaluated in the Emergency Department due to his symptoms. At this time, the coworker didn't feel that he needed to be seen and just wanted to wait a while to see if it would pass. Chelsea called the coworkers wife to update her on his situation and asked that she come to the clinic to try to talk him into being seen in the ED. Since he had a procedure earlier in the morning, our cardiologist, with the permission from our ill coworker, called to ask for the results and recommendations. The resulting doctor advised that our coworker should be seen immediately in the ED. Andrea delegated to the MA to get a wheelchair to take him downstairs. Andrea and Chelsea proceeded to transfer him to the ED. He was talking to them coherently in the elevator, but when they got to the ground floor of the hospital, he suddenly lost consciousness, started gasping and turned pale and grey. There were no phones available to call for help in the area they were in, so Andrea began pushing the wheelchair faster, holding his head up, and Chelsea attempted to help him regain consciousness while running through the halls of the ground floor. Andrea and Chelsea were able to maintain composure and work together to get him to the ED as quickly as possible. Once they arrived, he regained consciousness, and Andrea and Chelsea were able to give a full report of events to the ED staff and hand off care to them. His wife arrived at the ED soon after and they were able to fill her in on what happened and show her where to find him in the ED. He was later transferred to St. Luke's for observation and subsequently had a stent placed in his heart the next morning. Teamwork, critical and quick thinking, and compassion saved the life of our coworker that day. I am proud to have them on our team.