Emily Kulick, RN Spv-Nursing

We become nurses to care for the vulnerable and help be an advocate/voice for those who can't speak for themselves. Emily truly exhibited those qualities and fought for what was right for her patient. We had a patient for whom we were not sure if he could make his own decisions, so the family became the decision maker and decided to terminally wean the patient and then donate his organs if possible. Emily notified the manager, risk, legal, and intensivist that it didn’t feel right to her because the patient was following commands. She convinced the team to take a deeper look, turn off sedation, and see if the patient could be his own decision-maker. There was still back and forth but the patient was able to say his wishes of trach and PEG is what he wanted. Without Emily pushing and advocating for this patient, he would have been terminally weaned, now he is at a select specialty hospital and gets to live out his wishes. Emily’s patients and the patients in ICU are lucky to have her as an advocate.