zoe riha, BSN, RN

Zoe was working in triage and a patient checked in with a musculoskeletal injury and was sent back to the waiting room because the ED was full. Zoe noticed the patient got up and abruptly left the waiting room, so she followed him to make sure everything was ok. She then received an emergent Vocera call that patient had left a suicide note with the registration desk prior to leaving the waiting room.
Zoe called security, followed the patient all the way to the parking garage, and was able to successfully coach him to come back to ED for evaluation. The patient was eventually admitted to a psychiatric unit. The patient may not have lived had Zoe not been caring and diligent enough to know that something may have been wrong with the him and being able to coach him back to the ED for evaluation.