Kris had recently started working in our department, and brought with her a wealth of nursing knowledge from the adult setting. Kris had shared with us that while working at another facility (adult) she had worked with an infant that the parents came in with for treatment of an infection getting worse on her head. After seeing this child, also presenting with a soft spot and some suspicious bruising she immediately went on alert. Fortunately Kris has had a crash course in child abuse working in our ED and she immediately had her suspicions aroused. The attending physician was going to treat the child for the infection and change the antibiotic that the child was prescribed. However Kris was relentless. She convinced that Doctor to order a skull x-ray to start off with and that was enough to get the ball rolling. The child was diagnosed with many fractures not only to his head, and because of her perseverance she was able to ensure that this child would be transferred to Driscoll and notify the appropriate authorities.
I think that Kris deserves this award not only because she advocated for that patient's safety and overall health; but because after her shift she thanked us for the good training for recognizing child abuse and that she was able to share this with the adult community.