I will begin with a summary; Brianna O'Connell exemplifies every good trait I could ever hope to have in the nurse caring for my child. But to pare all that she's done for us, and the way she's done it, down to a mere summary is to sacrifice the details that define the line between a good nurse and a great one. All of the nurses at CHOP are good. Not at any time during our stay have we felt afraid to leave our newborn in their care. But I will admit to a certain level of selfish hope every time we'd visit the NICU that Brianna was the nurse tending to our daughter.

Every time we would visit and she was taking care of our daughter, we were given a complete, detailed and gentle explanation of all the things that had occurred since we left. Doctors often find it difficult to explain medical terminology in a way that makes sense to the laymen, but lacks an (admittedly well-deserved) are of "dumbing down". Brianna always managed to explain things that were new to my husband and me without omitting the actual terminology, while still expressing the meaning without us ever feeling as though we were children at a lecture. She always took the time to make us feel welcome in our daughter's room, walking us through tasks that were new to us as first-time parents without leaving us self-conscious. Even on days when she wasn't the nurse in charge of our child she would drop in if she saw us, delighting as we did in the progress our baby was making. In the long stream of individual nurses who's names and faces escape me after our month-long stay, Brianna stands out.

Perhaps the most important thing to me, the reason I'm taking the time to make this nomination, isn't what occurred when we were there. It was what occurred when we weren't. Brianna knew what we wanted for our daughter, and was not afraid to advocate for her on our behalf. I saw it once, after a series of x-rays done to check the metal implants in my daughter's jaw. She studied them before they left, and I noticed a brief, heated call she made afterward out in the hallway. It turns out that when my baby's airway tube was reinserted during surgery, they pushed it in too far and instead of filling both lungs, it was primarily filling one. She was the one who caught it on the x-ray, brought it to the attention of whoever was in charge, and had others assist her in backing the tube up enough that it could do its job properly. When we asked what was going on she explained it honestly, and you could see on her face that she was fiercely protective of our child's best interest.

Leaving your newborn baby with strangers for a month, even when you visit every day, is a pain I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Having a nurse like Brianna caring for her and looking out for her made things bearable; we weren't leaving our daughter with a stranger, we were leaving her with a trusted friend.

Brianna O'Connell merits acknowledgement for what a fantastic nurse she is, because if she displays a tenth of the excellence and compassion to others that she showed our family, she has earned more recognition than any medical professional I have ever known.