June 2020
Sara
Sampson
,
RN
Labor and Delivery
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston
,
SC
United States
Sara was the nurse assigned to a pregnant patient who was in a head-on collision, resulting in the death of her 29-week unborn baby. The patient suffered multiple injuries which required surgery and admission to ICU. Due to the circumstances, the patient was going to have to vaginally deliver her baby while sedated on a ventilator. This was a challenging situation because the ICU is no longer connected. Sara had to quickly gather all necessary supplies that would be needed for the delivery and transport them to ICU. She also had to be a great resource to the ICU nurses who are not familiar with this process and after-care needed for the patient and her deceased baby. The family of the patient also needed lots of support processing and coping with this traumatic situation. Sara went above and beyond for all of these tasks. She helped the ICU team navigate the needs of the patient and baby. She was the compassionate and kind support for the husband who witnessed the birth of his deceased child while his wife laid sedated on a ventilator. She created the memory gifts, footprints, and pictures of the baby for the family. She did all of these tasks in an unfamiliar environment with all of her resources all the way over in Shawn Jenkins. I have known Sara for several years now and she has always demonstrated strong leadership, compassion for others, and unwavering patient advocacy. This situation was no different. Sara is an asset to the MUSC family and we are fortunate to have her be a part of our team.