Persistence and caring, two words that exemplify the actions taken by our two DAISY awardees who provided skillful care and extraordinary compassion. Marivic Miara and Pat Kotsakis teamed up to make sure that a patient who they were concerned about was re-assessed by her physicians prior to leaving the recovery room (PACU).
Marivic, near the end of her shift, was providing care to a patient who had just undergone surgery. Close monitoring of the patient revealed unexpected changes in the patient's vital signs. Marivic recognized that something was not right with this patient's recovery. She notified the anesthesiologist and immediate actions were taken to determine the cause. Interventions were ordered and initiated and the surgeon was updated on the patient's condition. When Marivic's shift had ended, she stayed on while Pat took over. She wanted to be sure that subtle changes in the patient's condition from her shift to the next would be immediately recognized, and addressed. Both nurses, familiar with known complications, communicated to the surgeon that changes in the patient's condition warranted an immediate examination. As it turned out, their nursing and critical thinking skills were on-point. The surgeon took the patient back to surgery and she is now on the road to full recovery.
The persistence and caring actions of this team of nurses made a tremendous difference in this patient's life.