The story that I am going to share exhibits both compassion and the value of patients first. We are coworkers in the chemo infusion center at OMC. Mary was delivering a treatment one day to a new patient whose treatment was scheduled to end at 5 pm. She was only scheduled to work until 5:30. At the very end of his infusion, the patient became very ill. Instead of handing off the patient to another nurse, Mary dug in her heels to make sure his needs were met. She did a quick check to see what anti-emetics were covered by his insurance that had not yet been given.
Because they were specific to his chemo treatment plan, the fellow on call was not comfortable ordering them. Mary persisted until she finally got in touch with an attending who agreed to the order. Once the patient had been treated, made comfortable, and equipped with instructions for discharge, he and Mary left the building around 7 pm. Mary has since tried to look ahead at treatment plans throughout the week to make sure that they have the proper anti-emetics ordered. She is a champion of a patient advocate.