Ashley Thomas
October 2023
Ashley
Thomas
,
RN
Comprehensive Transplant Unit
The Johns Hopkins Hospital
Baltimore
,
MD
United States
Ashley displayed bravery and humility while caring deeply for strangers in their most vulnerable moments, and that is why she is on the top of my list of nurses that I would want caring for my loved ones.
Ashley Thomas displayed an exceptional level of clinical skill and unparalleled compassion throughout the entire process of a recent code on 9W. The event was unexpected and challenging, especially for Ashley as the precepting primary nurse for the patient, but her nerves were exemplary.
She didn’t hesitate to initiate an ERT when the patient’s clinical status escalated suddenly from concerning to worrisome. I believe it was Ashley’s efficient communication with the charge nurse, provider, and patient, along with swift activation of the ERT team, that prevented this patient’s arrest from being unwitnessed and allowed for immediate interventions.
During the code, Ashley led our nursing team with definitive focus and quick critical thinking; giving consistent and clear CPR feedback while ensuring quality in the interventions of the peers around her. Her focus helped keep me calm, and her clinical expertise filled in the gaps of my knowledge. Her communication was precise and effective with the medical team around her, and was also clear and kind with the patient and the family – telling them what to expect and what we were doing up until the patient arrested.
The primary team was ready to discharge this patient that day, but Ashley advocated that the patient had been unable to stand for days due to ongoing symptoms and was not safe to discharge to home. Her advocacy continued after the ECMO team had replaced her at the bedside, when Ashley pivoted to care for the large family of the patient. She ensured child life was paged for the children, and a chaplain was present, communicated with the post-arrest unit’s charge nurse on places for the family to stay and privacy concerns, then took the family and a collection of juices, snacks, pillows, and blankets to a waiting area.
It takes a sharp mind to deploy every imaginable resource into a situation, but she spent hours doing this after her shift should have ended. Ashley displayed bravery and humility while caring deeply for strangers in their most vulnerable moments, and that is why she is on the top of my list of nurses that I would want caring for my loved ones.
Following this event, Ashley pulled her orientee aside to debrief in a private area, helped lead a debrief with the whole team, and checked in with many of us individually on how we were doing. She raised awareness and normalized the use of RISE and texted me the next day with self-care suggestions and examples of how she was caring for herself. It takes an expert nurse and leader to provide outstanding compassionate care while also caring for her team and for herself during the process.
One of the first things this patient’s partner asked me after they downgraded from an ICU a week after their arrest, was if Ashley was working – they wanted to see her and show her how well they were doing.
She didn’t hesitate to initiate an ERT when the patient’s clinical status escalated suddenly from concerning to worrisome. I believe it was Ashley’s efficient communication with the charge nurse, provider, and patient, along with swift activation of the ERT team, that prevented this patient’s arrest from being unwitnessed and allowed for immediate interventions.
During the code, Ashley led our nursing team with definitive focus and quick critical thinking; giving consistent and clear CPR feedback while ensuring quality in the interventions of the peers around her. Her focus helped keep me calm, and her clinical expertise filled in the gaps of my knowledge. Her communication was precise and effective with the medical team around her, and was also clear and kind with the patient and the family – telling them what to expect and what we were doing up until the patient arrested.
The primary team was ready to discharge this patient that day, but Ashley advocated that the patient had been unable to stand for days due to ongoing symptoms and was not safe to discharge to home. Her advocacy continued after the ECMO team had replaced her at the bedside, when Ashley pivoted to care for the large family of the patient. She ensured child life was paged for the children, and a chaplain was present, communicated with the post-arrest unit’s charge nurse on places for the family to stay and privacy concerns, then took the family and a collection of juices, snacks, pillows, and blankets to a waiting area.
It takes a sharp mind to deploy every imaginable resource into a situation, but she spent hours doing this after her shift should have ended. Ashley displayed bravery and humility while caring deeply for strangers in their most vulnerable moments, and that is why she is on the top of my list of nurses that I would want caring for my loved ones.
Following this event, Ashley pulled her orientee aside to debrief in a private area, helped lead a debrief with the whole team, and checked in with many of us individually on how we were doing. She raised awareness and normalized the use of RISE and texted me the next day with self-care suggestions and examples of how she was caring for herself. It takes an expert nurse and leader to provide outstanding compassionate care while also caring for her team and for herself during the process.
One of the first things this patient’s partner asked me after they downgraded from an ICU a week after their arrest, was if Ashley was working – they wanted to see her and show her how well they were doing.