Nicole Pieri
August 2018
Nicole
Pieri
,
RN
Trauma Burn Unit
UPMC Mercy
Pittsburgh
,
PA
United States
Last week while I was in charge in the ED, we had four patients arrive back to back from a house fire in McKeesport. I only had 4 nurses, 2 of whom were trauma trained, and a full department. I heard through the EMS grapevine that a large house fire was happening, and I called Nicole Pieri to give her a head's up that I was expecting patients and asked if we could call for assistance if there were multiple patients. She said of course.
It wasn't 2 minutes later that I got a call that an LVL1 and an LVL2 2 were en-route. I called Nicole to give her an update and told her I would call if we had anymore expected patients. Of course, as soon as I hung up, I received a call that a child was en-route.
I don't know if Nicole ran down the steps, but she was in the department in moments, immediately assessing that the greatest need was the LVL 1 who was having respiratory difficulties. She consulted with the trauma attending, and within minutes formulated and executed a plan to take the patient up to the TBU herself, which decompressed the resources being used in the ED tremendously, allowing us to care for the next LVL 2 that arrived, the other 2 victims that were already in the department, as well as the other ER patients.
This is not the first time I have asked for assistance from the TBU, and it always seems to be Nicole who responds! Whether it's trying to find toys for 2 children who arrived at us with a parent unfit to care for them and had to be removed, assisting us with the Brentwood MCI with no hesitation, or sending us shampoo caps for our senior ladies who suffered a fall and are self-conscious about their stained hair. I have never called with a request from the TBU and been told no, or even had hesitation to assist. The entire department goes above and beyond for us, and our patients, every single time.
I am sure you are aware of the caliber of a nurse and a human being that Nicole is, and I am sure this is not the first letter to be sent about her. But sometimes the best people on our teams are just expected to perform at that level and don't receive as much praise.
It wasn't 2 minutes later that I got a call that an LVL1 and an LVL2 2 were en-route. I called Nicole to give her an update and told her I would call if we had anymore expected patients. Of course, as soon as I hung up, I received a call that a child was en-route.
I don't know if Nicole ran down the steps, but she was in the department in moments, immediately assessing that the greatest need was the LVL 1 who was having respiratory difficulties. She consulted with the trauma attending, and within minutes formulated and executed a plan to take the patient up to the TBU herself, which decompressed the resources being used in the ED tremendously, allowing us to care for the next LVL 2 that arrived, the other 2 victims that were already in the department, as well as the other ER patients.
This is not the first time I have asked for assistance from the TBU, and it always seems to be Nicole who responds! Whether it's trying to find toys for 2 children who arrived at us with a parent unfit to care for them and had to be removed, assisting us with the Brentwood MCI with no hesitation, or sending us shampoo caps for our senior ladies who suffered a fall and are self-conscious about their stained hair. I have never called with a request from the TBU and been told no, or even had hesitation to assist. The entire department goes above and beyond for us, and our patients, every single time.
I am sure you are aware of the caliber of a nurse and a human being that Nicole is, and I am sure this is not the first letter to be sent about her. But sometimes the best people on our teams are just expected to perform at that level and don't receive as much praise.