Kelsie Harder
January 2019
Kelsie
Harder
,
RN
PICU
Banner Desert Medical Center, Cardon Children's Medical Center
Mesa
,
AZ
United States

 

 

 

This past week, Kelsie exemplified what it means to be a nurse for a dying pediatric patient. She was a strong advocate for her patient, respectfully challenging a provider's decision on pain control and fighting to make sure her patient's pain was managed from a patient-first perspective. In addition, she provided tremendous emotional support to both the patient and the parents. Although Kelsie took care of this family several days over the course of her admission, on the day the family informed the patient of her terminal status and transferred her care to Hospice, Kelsie was especially therapeutic. It was an extremely difficult situation and she handled it with grace and empathy. Moments before the patient left the unit, I saw Kelsie embrace the patient in a loving hug. It can only be described as one of the most powerful moments I have ever witnessed. Finally, Kelsie went above and beyond. After the patient had been transferred to Ryan House, Kelsie contacted her band director. It was then organized that the patient's peers, (the marching band) traveled to Ryan House and played music and visited with their bandmate. Kelsie managed a tremendously difficult situation with extraordinary compassionate care.