Sarah was put in a situation that tested her mental and emotional abilities as a nurse. Only a few hours into her shift, her 18 y/o patient coded and passed away. She stood there as the patient’s mother yelled at her for this happening, then screaming over her son's body. Sarah then stayed in the room, trying to console the mother as much as she could. A couple of hours later, a code EMA was called because the patient's mother passed out on the unit. Sarah was down on the ground with her. As soon as the mom sat up on the ground, she started crying inconsolably, and Sarah grabbed her and hugged her tight. They sat on the ground crying together as the mother kept repeating “I can’t go on”. Sarah reassured her and took deep breaths with her to attempt to calm her down. The mom kept apologizing for yelling at Sarah and hugging her. It was such a surreal and beautiful moment watching how much of an impact a nurse has.

I have never seen the amount of compassion, patience, and empathy as I did from Sarah that day. This is the dark part of nursing that people rarely talk about, but nurses face it every day. I am so proud of the way Sarah was able to stay composed while helping a mother deal with the trauma of losing her son.