One of the early morning hours, I woke up while Nurse Samantha was attending to my roommate. Soon things escalated quickly as my roommate began to have a “Rapid”. Nurse Samantha calmly called the code and multiple nurses and doctors began to rush into the room. During this stressful situation, I only heard 3 voices. The first, was a nurse who took charge and began giving orders to others. I commend her for her leadership skills and ability to take charge. The second voice was a Doctor asking for report. The third voice was Nurse Samantha’s. Samantha knew every detail about her patient; his history, recent medical complaints, his vitals from before the rapid, medications were administered, and his full assessment. Samantha was able to provide report without hesitation while continuing to provide care to her patients. 

Prior to this event, I recently returned from a second surgery during her night shift. This was my first night as her patient. My wife, also a nurse, commented to me after Samantha assessed me and said, "You are in good hands tonight, I can tell by her assessment and interaction that she is a great nurse."  A little background of myself - I was in severe pain and receiving multiple IV pain meds, I required oxygen due to low oxygen saturations from surgery, I had a drain, and I was battling an infection. I was also a high fall risk. Samantha spent countless hours of her shift at both my bedside and my roommate's. Early on in the shift, she was obtaining an infectious workup on my roommate and was having difficulty obtaining labs. Samantha went above and beyond and contacted multiple departments for assistance while tending to our needs. Despite my roommate's clinical decline, there was not a moment when I felt that my needs weren’t being met. If I asked for pain medication, she was quickly there or asked another RN for assistance to be sure I received care promptly. 

After the event, my roommate and Samantha talked, and he couldn’t thank Samantha enough for being right next to him when he woke up to a room full of people. My roommate was scared, but having Nurse Samantha there, who was comforting him, acting promptly, communicating the plan, and staying by his side, he knew that he was safe and in good hands. Nurse Samantha showed compassion and empathy. She is a great nurse and should be recognized for her extraordinary skills. She remained calm and attentive and always presented herself with a smile. Her assessment skills were thorough. Samantha demonstrated professionalism and was able to make our unfortunate hospital stay a little brighter.