Rita has an incredible aptitude for learning, but moreover, she has an immense aptitude for providing remarkable nursing care to patients and their families. She is constantly recognizing colleagues for their outstanding abilities and has written countless High Fives. In many of these instances in which Rita has written a High Five for someone, I believe she too was just as extraordinary in the care she provided.

The action for which I am writing this nomination occurred May 25, 2014. The acuity in the PICU was especially high, and Rita was taking care of a patient who was extremely tenuous. In bed 1, the next room over, another patient was fighting for his life. I happened to be resource nurse that day, but spent most of my time in bed 1 assisting that patient's nurse. We worked tirelessly for most of the day alongside our amazing physicians, respiratory therapists, and patient care technicians. We hadn't charted a single thing, but thought, "The patient is more important; we will chart when we have time."

At one point, after several hours had gone by, we realized we needed to chart in order to have accurate documentation of when specific interventions occurred and what effect those interventions had on the patient. Carrie sat down and said, "Someone charted everything." Rita, although she had to remain at her patient's bedside, had been charting all day for the patient next door.

Rita did not believe her charting helped to contribute to safe and effective care. In fact she apologized she could not help more. I, on the other hand, believe her charting allowed us the ability to dedicate more time to providing bedside care to a patient who was rapidly decompensating.

This is not the only instance in which Rita has provided exceptional, effective, and safe care to patients and families. She is truly a phenomenal nurse, and I look up to her as both a role model and a mentor.