Charlotte Brauchli, CCRN, CSC-CMC

I am a 71-year-old retired Nurse Practitioner, and I have been getting my breast cancer treatment at Duke, which is good for me because my daughter lives in Durham. I also have knee replacement surgery scheduled at Duke. My day of appointments for a six month check up of my breast cancer included a pretty full day: a mammogram, lab work, a visit in the Breast Cancer clinic, and finally, an infusion in the Oncology Treatment clinic. I met my infusion nurse, Charlotte, and she took me to a room. As she inserted an intravenous line we discussed my infusion history, and the fact that the Zometa infusion would infuse over 15 minutes. Charlotte was about to start the infusion when she realized that l was scheduled for knee replacement surgery in less than a week. It turned out that Charlotte, an Oncology nurse, was paying attention, and she knew that Zometa could interfere with bone healing, and most importantly, she did not see me as a relatively well patient receiving a 15-minute infusion. The Oncology Treatment clinic was particularly busy that day, and Charlotte was taking care of many patients who needed her care and attention. But she stopped in the process of delivering the ordered drug to me. She told me that she was going to make sure that l was to really meant to get the Zometa before Orthopedic surgery. I had invested a lot in planning for the surgery, and it turns out that without Charlotte's knowledge, attention to medical detail, and quick decision making, as well as her willingness to invest her time in getting an answer about that infusion, the surgery would have been cancelled for six months. As a nurse myself, I recognize in Charlotte the qualities that exemplify a caring, knowledgeable, and decisive professional who takes the extra steps to provide care that changes lives.