Maura Hyland, BSN, RN

On an incredibly busy day in the Intensive Care Unit, I was taking care of a patient who was so unstable that I was having to titrate life-saving infusions minute to minute. His family was still deciding if they wanted to pursue comfort care, so I brought his daughters back to visit. Unfortunately, he was COVID positive, so they were only able to look at him through the glass door. While they were visiting, I offered to make fingerprints for them.

I was in the supply room for about five seconds gathering the supplies, when I returned and saw that his vital signs were vastly unstable. He was dying in front of his daughters. I yelled for help and gowned up to be in the room. It was so busy on the floor that others could only help me for short amounts of time, and it wasn’t enough. I called the front desk to see if there was someone who could come and help me for longer.

Maura arrived and quickly worked with the provider to manage my drips outside the room (there were eight!) while I cared for the patient inside the room. Maura helped tend to the family, and together we helped the patient pass as peacefully as possible. Maura helped me break down my room and do post-mortem care. When I thanked her, she said she came to help because “No nurse should have to do this alone.”