On Saturday morning, a patient on our unit coded and sadly passed away. It was my first week in the position as charge nurse and I was having difficulty securing the proper documents and had questions regarding the documentation. Out of desperation, I reached out to day shift charge nurse, Angela, at 3:40 am, and she was scheduled to be there later that morning at 7 am.
Not only did Angela wake up and respond immediately, but to my shock, she showed up early and walked onto the floor at 4:30 am! She could sense that it had been a very challenging night shift and understood that I was overwhelmed. She came in over two hours early, without even being asked, and promptly started helping with the hardest tasks of helping prepare the deceased patient, who had been a COVID patient.
I have no way to ever thank her enough or express to her how grateful I will always be to her for being so generous and patient with her personal time and especially during a pandemic. I would say that I remained shocked that she helped in such a way, but Angela has always been patient and helpful to me, from day one, as my preceptor on this unit. She is a true DAISY Nurse for her commitment to her team and this unit.