Naomi Perez worked her shift like any other day. On any given day, Naomi is an exceptional nurse. She is always a friendly, outgoing and helpful nurse to both her co-workers and her patients. The Medical- Surgical unit had a very busy night with admissions and high acuity patients. As they approached the end of their shifts, the House Supervisor informed the department that two staff members called in. House Supervisor had reached out to all staff members and the staffing office in Galveston, but no one was available to come in and work the day shift. This left Med-Surg with a very unsafe patient to staff ratio.
Despite having worked an exhausting 12-hour shift, Naomi volunteered to stay and help her fellow dayshift nurses out to ensure the patients were kept safe. Naomi gladly took another patient assignment until relief could be found. Naomi never complained and always had a smile on her face when talking to her patients and staff. She never showed her obvious exhaustion outwardly and continued to provide excellent patient care.
Additional staff nurses were not available. Naomi worked until 2 PM until the CNO could arrive to take the care of Naomi's patients. None of Naomi's patients could tell how tired she was as she went along her day. Several of Naomi's patients complimented her on her nursing care to the CNO. Not many nurses could work a busy 12-hour shift and stay over to work another 7 hours. Naomi's compassion for her nurses, her continued acts of teamwork, and patient focused care is a shining example of her excellency in the nursing practice. We are lucky to have her on our team.