Meghan Okerson
June 2021
Meghan
Okerson
,
BSN, RN, CPN, CCRN
Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
Children’s National Hospital
Washington
,
DC
United States
Meghan quietly offered to stay well past her shift, holding him, playing gentle age-appropriate cartoons and listening to child-friendly songs, providing a caring and respectful transition from this life.
Meghan’s clinical skill, and especially her compassionate care, exemplify the kind of nurse that our patients, their families, and our staff recognize as an outstanding role model. When Meghan arrived for her shift, she probably didn’t expect that it would involve a toddler-aged gunshot victim. Then again, this is the PICU. Like her fellow nurses, Meghan seeks to make a difference in even the toughest cases. After a full twelve hours of caring for this critically ill child and supporting his distraught family directly with compassion, commitment, and connection, not to mention deftly navigating visits and information requests from local homicide detectives, the decision was made that the injury was not survivable, and the child would be compassionately extubated. The child’s family became overcome with emotion and ultimately decided they could not watch him pass. Meghan quietly offered to stay well past her shift, holding him, playing gentle age-appropriate cartoons and listening to child-friendly songs, providing a caring and respectful transition from this life.
In PICU, we treat everyone as family. The care continuity, love, and compassion shown by this nurse exemplifies the spirit of the PICU, and indeed the spirit of Children’s National. As pediatric providers, we strive to advocate for a world in which no child ever meets such a violet act; as nurses, we will go above and beyond for individual patients whenever we see the need. Thank you, Meghan.
In PICU, we treat everyone as family. The care continuity, love, and compassion shown by this nurse exemplifies the spirit of the PICU, and indeed the spirit of Children’s National. As pediatric providers, we strive to advocate for a world in which no child ever meets such a violet act; as nurses, we will go above and beyond for individual patients whenever we see the need. Thank you, Meghan.