I have had the honor of working with Reina for 5 years now. When she works, she works not only with wonderful critical thinking skills, but also with her heart and soul!

Today we had a patient that was admitted with a hip fracture, and was going to go to surgery. Reina said, "I just don't feel right with this patient being here and going to surgery". She called the IM and explained what was happening, the patient was a little short of breath, was having a hard time keeping his saturation levels up for the 2 hours that he was here on our floor, and was pale in color. It was hard to explain to the doctor what her gut was telling her because his clinical picture wasn't horrible. We assessed the patient, and his only real complaint was his hip pain. The patient and the family seemed a little frustrated with us because we were holding up the surgery, but Reina knew there was more to the story of this man's condition. The IM gave an order to transfer patient to a higher level of care, and at that moment the transporter came up to the take the patient to pre-op. Reina stopped him and said "wait"; she made a quick call to the surgeon, who then cancelled the surgery.

This was all taking place at 1845-1915, which is the busiest and most hectic time, because it was the change of shift. We were unable to get a bed right away, and a CAT team was then called. Patient was then transferred to the CCU. Later we were notified that the patient had a complete heart block as well as a PE.

Reina advocated for her patient and because she did, she saved his life! She could have very easily endorsed care to the next shift, because it was time for her to go, but she didn't. Instead, she fought for this man and his family to provide the best outcomes possible. I am so proud to call this wonderful person my co-worker and friend. I think that each one of us can learn from her example.