Mallory has a smile and personality that makes working with her a joy! I noticed early on how eager Mallory was to learn and grow as an ICU nurse. She is never afraid to ask questions, offer to help others and take on new and exciting patient assignments. I have heard Mallory say, "I'll take that patient because I've never cared for a patient with xxxx diagnosis." She is always so excited to take on critical patients and learn new things. I'm impressed by Mallory's positive personality, team work, compassion and excitement to learn on every shift that I work with her, but one day recently she just blew me away!
Mallory had admitted a patient the day before, who was undergoing initiation of a very serious and life altering medication. Mallory informed me at the beginning of my shift that she realized the day before that this patient was lacking serious education and understanding of what he had been admitted for. She stated that the patient was Spanish speaking only and when talking with his wife, they did not realize that this medication was going to be life long, that it required having a central line placed and that he might be in the hospital for several weeks while getting started on it. On top of all of this, Mallory found out that the patient's daughter was graduating from high school that weekend and they lived six hours away. Mallory came to the conclusion that the physicians used the patient's wife and daughter as his interpreter and the wife stated that some of the words were very hard for her to translate; this is where Mallory believed the lack of understanding came from.
Mallory contacted the different teams of doctors caring for him and an interpreter, to try to sort this out. After bringing all the doctors together, and lots of patient advocating on Mallory's behalf, they came up with a plan. The plan was to place the central line and let him come back in the next week to start the medication. After checking some preoperative labs, they discovered that the patient had taken blood thinners prior to being admitted and would not be able to have his line placed that day. So with the change of plans, his line would be placed the next day.
The next day the patient's blood was still too thin. When I walked up to Mallory, she already had a plan in place. She stated, "I'm going to call the doctors and say that I think we should discharge the patient home and place the line next week since his daughter is graduating this weekend." Mallory did just that! She notified the different teams, they came to the bedside, and she insured that an interpreter was present through the whole process. Mallory advocated for the patient and his wife, making sure that their questions were answered. When the patient's wife began to cry, Mallory stepped in and asked her to say what she was worried about so that the doctors could help ease her nerves. Mallory also stated that she was worried that the patient and his wife might not have enough money to pay for traveling to the hospital, this hospital stay and the required medication. Because of her pointing this out, we contacted different departments in the hospital to try to get assistance for this particular hospitalization. Subsequently, the patient was discharged home with his wife just in time for his daughter's graduation.
While everything was going on, Mallory was also carrying for another very sick patient with stage 4 cancer. The patient's husband was having a very hard time coming to terms with his wife's terminal diagnosis. Mallory provided exceptional emotional support to the patient and her husband. She spent a great deal of time with him, talking about his wife and discussing what she was like prior to her diagnosis, what kinds of things she liked to do for fun and what her wishes would be now that she was worsening.
When I talked to Mallory later, I asked her how their conversation went. She said that she really had a break through with the husband. She stated that he told her what his wife would want in her care and that Mallory responded with, "She must really love and trust you to let you make these decisions for her."
That afternoon, the patient's husband was ready to withdraw care on his wife, take her off the ventilator and let her pass away. Mallory was at bedside the whole time. She gave the patient some calming medication and then she was extubated. To Mallory's dismay, the patient struggled to breathe for several minutes after. Mallory came out in the hallway very upset, called the physicians to explain what had happened and requested more medication to help the patient relax. Within a few short minutes, the patient was much more comfortable and passed away just 10 minutes later. After this was over, Mallory stated that she was able to stay calm while in the room and talked to the patient, encouraged the family to talk to her and cleaned her mouth out, all to help the time pass until the patient was more comfortable. The patient's family hugged and thanked Mallory as they left the hospital after the patient had passed.
Mallory treats patients, families and co-workers with so much respect. Mallory reminds me of how I felt as a newer ICU nurse, being excited each and every day to learn and grow. Mallory is truly deserving of this award, she goes above and beyond with her patients and their families. She provides extraordinary service and care in our unit and throughout the organization.