Scott Todd's clinical skills are always at the highest level on CVCU. He is considered one of our expert nurses and is credentialed in all advanced care and equipment on our unit. However, his greatest skill is continually surveying his patients for deterioration in condition and implementing preventative or treatment measures accordingly. He serves in both the Charge Nurse and Resource Nurse roles on our unit as well as providing bedside care. As a fellow charge/resource nurse, I am always happy when he is on the unit as I know his clinical skills and expertise will help keep our patients safe.
Scott is well liked by co-workers, doctors, and by his patients and their family. He finds a way to connect with every person he meets in a compassionate manner. While CVCU gets the benefit of his compassionate care every shift he works, this compassion expands out into the community. Two stories about Scott exhibit this ongoing compassion, along with his clinical skill, exemplary service and continued commitment to excellence.
Two years ago, Scott shared with me an experience he had where he was at a lake, noticed a commotion and then a child underwater and unable to swim. He rushed into the water, rescued the child and provided supportive post-drowning care and advice to the child's family. This child is alive today because of Scott: the fact that he was paying attention, was willing to jump into action and knew what to do in the situation.
Just this past week there was another incident where all of Scott's qualities that make him an excellent DAISY Award candidate came into play. He was playing softball in his community when people started calling for any medical personnel in another field. Scott went to the scene, noticed that the patient was likely having a myocardial infarction, asked someone to call 911 and get some aspirin. The patient was still conscious, although had the look of an impending catastrophe. Scott calmly talked with the patient, administered the aspirin, and said: "OK, I am just going to sit here with you while we wait for the ambulance." I am sure that Scott's normal calm, quieting demeanor was a great comfort to this patient. Scott said about 15 minutes later the patient went into cardiac arrest, and he immediately started CPR, while instructing someone else on how to give rescue breaths.
Here is an excerpt from the local paper article about the incident, "A member of the Wolf Pack softball team died of an apparent heart attack during an Albany Parks & Recreation game Wednesday evening at Bryant Park. The sports coordinator for Parks & Rec said 911 was called when the patient was stricken. Staff searched the softball fields for someone with medical training and found a nurse who tended to the patient until medics arrived."
That someone was Scott. I imagine that his presence was a great comfort for the patient and his teammates and family members. Although this patient didn't survive, Scott provided compassion and companionship in his last minutes.
Scott consistently strives to provide the best service to all our patients and families. He routinely exceeds all our service initiatives - keeping patients informed, medication education, responsiveness to call light. The personal connection he makes with each patient and their family is a key to his exemplary service. Whenever I do leadership rounds, patients mention how great his care and service were.
Scott keeps up-to-date on critical care practice issues and clinical skills. He readily instructs nurses on how to perform procedures or helps them critically think through what is going on with their patients, and he helps educate our staff through monthly resource education topics. Staff look to him as an expert on the unit, and he doesn't let them down. Any patient or staff member would be very fortunate to work with Scott.