Jennifer is an extremely passionate nurse who is always going the extra mile for her patients. She is one of our Fast Track nurses and she works extremely hard rotating through the barrage of minor care needs, complaints, requests, and patient flow to keep our ED moving.
One particular day, she was taking care of a lady who came in with complaints of a headache. The patient was seen by a provider and medications and treatment for her complaint were given. The patient improved somewhat and was ready for discharge, but Jennifer just had a gut feeling that something wasn't right. She informed the patient she wanted the provider to come back and reevaluate her, but the patient insisted she was okay and just wanted to go home and get some rest. Jennifer voiced understanding but then left the room and requested the provider return to check on her anyway. The provider returned and discussed further care with the patient and Jennifer, and it was decided to order a CT of the patient's head and lab workup.
Upon completion of the workup, it was noted this patient had an extremely low platelet count and she had also suffered a subdural bleed. The patient was immediately stabilized and transferred to Memorial Medical Center for acute Neurology Specialty Care.
Without Jennifer's pushing and persistence for this patient to stay in the ED and receive further workup, the prognosis on her condition could have turned out much worse if she had gone home to rest. I truly believe Jennifer saved her life that day and I would like to recognize her for her sincere compassion and advocacy she had for her patient, and all she does for all her patients each and every day.