Mary A Brown, RN, BSN

Ms. Brown is our triage nurse and sees every patient that presents to the department. Ms. Brown's work ethic and knowledge base are exemplary. She immediately gives a warm welcome to all of our Veterans who present to the ED for care. As the triage nurse, her initial contact can be with a patient in extremis or in emotional distress. She is able to adapt to any situation, stabilize the patient, and transfer to the care of the ED nurse. Ms. Brown maintains communication with the physician regarding the initial plan of care and decreased ED time by initiating diagnostic studies as indicated.

Ms. Brown treats our Veterans with the utmost respect, compassion, and confidentiality. She is always pleasant and interacts with the Primary Physicians, Emergency Department, and staff seamlessly. Ms. Brown will do anything she can to assure that a Veteran is able to receive the care that they request or be referred through the appropriate channels. She has no problem contacting the PMD, pharmacy, ED Physician, or family to assure continuity of care in our patients.

Ms. Brown always has a smile, and a cheerful, positive demeanor even when we are very busy and especially with the volume of high acuity patients that we have seen during this period of crisis. Her service and commitment to the department have been immeasurable. 

We have had multiple situations in which she has helped beyond her bounds, but one, in particular, was a Veteran who had recently been released from jail and had an HIV-positive status. He would not be able to see his primary care physician for several weeks. She made arrangements to obtain the specific information on his medication doses in that they had been discontinued for a period during his time in the facility. She made contact with the outpatient facility that had been refilling his meds, obtained dosing information, and informed the treating physician such that continuity of care and treatment was maintained.