August 2016
Imelda
Pasillas
,
BSN, RN
6 -South, Adult General Surgery SAC
University of New Mexico Hospitals
Albuquerque
,
NM
United States
When Imelda came in one of her patients reported no pain but was just "not feeling right" after looking at her vitals she noticed a low trend. She contacted the doctor immediately and reported her findings. They came up to look her over. They pulled her drain and fluid gushed from her, her vitals remained low and the team requested Imelda to just monitor the patient. Imelda did so with a gut feeling something was very wrong. She advocated for this patient all day, pushing and pushing the doctors to act. The doctors responded, they rushed the patient to the ICU and ordered the proper scans/test/fluids needed. Had Imelda not been the strong nurse she is this patient might have had negative complications. A lot of other nurses would have relied on the doctor's eye and let the patient slip through the cracks, but not Imelda! She pushed to get this patient the care she needed and the family will be forever grateful she did.