Besides going above and beyond for her patients every day, Nicole is a wonderful coworker, great role model, and all around nice person to be around. The main reason for this nomination is due to the wonderful care she was able to provide for a family in the PICU whose daughter had suddenly become very sick after being previously healthy and unfortunately resulted in brain death. Nicole did not only provide this family with impeccable care but also was able to be an amazing advocate for her patient and family throughout the organ donation process while dealing with all of the emotions that go along with such a process. She even went above and beyond to pick up multiple days in a row in order to provide continuity of care for the family throughout this process. Nicole is a wonderful example of what a well-rounded, empathetic, and passionate nurse should be. Not only did Nicole take excellent care of this same patient, but because the family was obviously unable to go to the OR with her prior to donation, Nicole actually stayed after her 12 hour overtime shift to personally take her down to the OR and held her hand until she eventually passed. This meant the absolute world to the family to have someone they trusted and felt was able to provide this support for them. Nicole not only proved her kindness, caring, compassion and vigilant patient care, but she truly is a "Super nurse" as the patient's own father had said.
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Nicole was caring for a patient in the PICU who was giving the gift of life to others by donating organs. Her shift was to end at 7:30 pm and the patient was to come to the OR to donate around 8:00 pm. After bonding with the patient and her family over several days in PICU, Nicole spent almost 5 hours after her shift to come to the OR with the donating patient and hold her hand throughout the donation. Nicole did not once let go of this patient's hand or complain about being here for such an extended shift. She is obviously a very compassionate nurse who is willing to go the extra mile for her patients and their families in extremely stressful and difficult situations.
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This past week, a friend and coworker's daughter suddenly became critically ill. She was admitted to the PICU where Nicole was her nurse for the majority of her stay. Nicole has always been an amazing nurse, but she truly went above and beyond to care not only for the patient but the family as well. With the sheer amount of family and visitors in and out of that room, she was able to allow everyone to visit while still looking after the best interests of the patient and her parents. The outcome was not what we hoped and prayed for and eventually, the family decided to donate her organs. Nicole promised mom that she would stay by her side the entire time. So, after her 12-hour shift, Nicole sat behind the drape and held her hand for the entire case. That is the true definition of selflessness and I know that the entire family could not be more grateful to Nicole for her compassion and dedication.