Sara has been a nurse in the TSICU for about a year and a half, and from the beginning of her orientation, it was apparent she embodies all the qualities of a compassionate nurse. Her time and experience in critical care have only strengthened her abilities as a nurse. Most recently, we had a patient who was involved in a devastating car accident. Sara cared for the patient throughout his short stay with us. Her attention to detail and critical thinking ensured he got the utmost care from multiple medical teams for all of his traumatic injuries. As with most trauma patients, medical teams often have competing goals depending on their injuries, and this was no different- Sara's calm nature and professionalism ensured that he got the care he needed. This included learning a piece of equipment she was not as familiar with (Camino bolt monitor) in order to provide the teams with the data that they needed to make surgical decisions. While balancing his critical needs, Sara also made sure to explain everything to his family and keep them involved in his care.

Unfortunately, the injuries were not survivable, and the family decided to proceed with organ donation. Sara was scheduled the day of his donation, and watching her care for the patient and the family during this process was inspiring. She continued to manage the medical needs for donation and shifted the focus to family-centered care in order to honor his memory. Sara helped organize the honor walk for his family and continued the care in the operating room for organ procurement. Her focus stayed on the patient the entire time, which is no easy feat considering there were surgical teams from 3+ hospitals working with very short time constraints in an unfamiliar area. Even though Sara could have left the operating room early, she stayed with him and ensured his memory was honored by reminding staff about the family statement. Sara then took on the duty of reading the statement to all of the teams in the OR (normally done by the organ procurement coordinator), which was so fitting as she had bonded with the family and spoke with them about the memories that they had written in the statement.

Sara truly is a one-of-a-kind nurse. She truly shone as an example of everything a critical care nurse needs to be during the entirety of this case.