One day when Mallia was working, the unit was very busy and nurses had five kids each to care for. There was a very medically complex patient that was going to surgery. When this patient went NPO, he would become hypoglycemic very quickly.
At the very start of the shift, Mallia recognized the patient's blood sugars were trending low and decided to check this patient's sugar on instinct (sooner than the orders were written for), and the patient had a blood sugar in the 30s, which is very low.
Mallia called the physician and obtained STAT orders for a D25 bolus (a large amount of sugar given through an IV). She continued to check his blood sugars every 30 minutes for the next four to five hours and had to give several D25 boluses to stabilize the patient's blood sugars.
Mallia showed great critical thinking skills and patient safety when she recognized that there were changes in this patient's condition and adjusted appropriately.
After having Mallia pay such close attention and take such amazing care of her child during this admission, the mother's outlook has completed changed and she was grateful for her care. This shows how important safety of the patient is to the family's experience in the hospital.Had Mallia not recognized this subtle change and acted accordingly, this may have been a much worse situation.
We are so lucky to have her working in general pediatrics and truly value her knowledge and skills as an RN. She has grown into such an amazing nurse in just a few short years!