Nick is a psychiatric nurse at OSU Harding Hospital's adolescent unit (4NP). The care Nick provides to children suffering from mental health diagnosis is exceptional. Nick is often mentioned in satisfaction surveys with positive comments from the patients and families he cares for.

While Nick always aspires to provide great care, one example stands out due to the unique challenges posed to our inpatient psychiatric unit. Earlier this year A 16-year-old male was brought to the OSU Trauma Center for significant burns from a failed suicide attempted, where the patient doused himself in gasoline and proceeded to light himself on fire. After many days on the burn unit the patient continued to voice suicidal thoughts with a definite plan on how he would die; it was clear this patient was suffering from a serious mental illness and needed inpatient psychiatric treatment. Despite the dire psychiatric needs of this patient, our unit was not equipped or prepared to provide the care needed for such complex medical issues; however, due to this patients continued lethality he was also at significant risk of suicide on the medical floor in which he was currently admitted.

Once the nursing staff on our unit was presented with the clinical details of this patient, Nick took the lead. Nick went to the burn unit and talked with the nursing staff and met with the patient and his parents. Nick came back to our unit with his assessment. Nick was confident our unit could meet the medical care this patient required. Nick's optimism was not entirely shared as he met resistance from his peers who had many valid concerns. Instead of being defeated, Nick pressed on, he developed a plan to coordinate care with the nurses on the burn unit with the care that could be provided on 4NP. The next two days Nick went to the burn unit and assisted the nurses with the dressing changes. During this short time, Nick learned the intricacies of providing wound care from the different types of ointments to the multitude of dressing supplies. Nick typed a step-by-step instruction page for the dressing changes and educated the nursing staff on our floor. Nick worked with our supply coordinator to ensure our unit would have all the supplies to care for this patient. Nick made sure everything was in place prior to transferring this patient to our unit.

This patient was transferred to our unit within 48 hours of Nick's care coordination. After a small amount of time on 4NP, the patient was safely discharged back to his family where they continued the care plan developed by the multidisciplinary team. Nick's "can-do" attitude and willingness to think outside the box provided the best possible outcome for this patient by meeting both his mental health and his physical health needs. Nick demonstrated to the rest of us, when we work together and use the vast resources available at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, we are a national leader in providing high-quality, safe, comprehensive care.