Lizzy Marino
September 2018
Elizabeth "Lizzy"
Marino
,
RN
Denver Cares
Denver Health and Hospital Authority
Denver
,
CO
United States
Lizzy is one of the newer RNs to join the Denver CARES team. As soon as she started working on the floor, I could tell that she came from experience and was driven by compassion and excellence toward patient care and safety. There are many examples of this in her work, but one situation stands out in demonstrating her skill, professionalism, and dedication to patient safety. We had a regular client self-admit early in the morning. This client is well known to us for blowing extremely high numbers and for consuming large amounts of alcohol. Upon admit, we were unable to secure a breathalizer due to the amount being so high that it errored out our handheld breathalyzers. When we were finally able to get a successful breath on him it was a .462. He was able to finish the intake process and make it back to the male dormitory.
Hours later, I was in the dorm giving a break to a coÂworker when this client rolled off his bed onto the floor and did not open his eyes. I went over to assess the client and was unable to get him to respond to verbal or physical stimuli. Lizzy was training for charge nurse this night and was one of three RNs on the floor. I called the nurses into the dorm to help assess the client, two of the nurses were not as concerned about this client's state. They thought because he was a "regular'" that he was OK to be monitored in a Quiet Room and were attempting to get vitals. I voiced my concern about this client's wellbeing, and that I have never seen him this disoriented. He was soaked in drool and not able to swallow, not responding to ammonia sticks, barely opening his eyes. Lizzy took charge and agreed with my assessment and stated that he was overqualified for CARES. She conferred with the other two nurses and though she was facing opposing forces, she was able to get this client into a wheelchair, obtain vitals, and call for transport to the main campus for further assessment.
This story is not meant to show any negatives or to look down on the other two nurses who were working that night, but to show that in a situation where three nurses had opposing outlooks and perceptions of this client and the situation, Lizzy was able to look past the prior admits and high BALs and see that a higher level of care was needed. Her compassion and non-biased outlook took this clients safety and wellbeing into account and she made a decision and stuck to it.
Hours later, I was in the dorm giving a break to a coÂworker when this client rolled off his bed onto the floor and did not open his eyes. I went over to assess the client and was unable to get him to respond to verbal or physical stimuli. Lizzy was training for charge nurse this night and was one of three RNs on the floor. I called the nurses into the dorm to help assess the client, two of the nurses were not as concerned about this client's state. They thought because he was a "regular'" that he was OK to be monitored in a Quiet Room and were attempting to get vitals. I voiced my concern about this client's wellbeing, and that I have never seen him this disoriented. He was soaked in drool and not able to swallow, not responding to ammonia sticks, barely opening his eyes. Lizzy took charge and agreed with my assessment and stated that he was overqualified for CARES. She conferred with the other two nurses and though she was facing opposing forces, she was able to get this client into a wheelchair, obtain vitals, and call for transport to the main campus for further assessment.
This story is not meant to show any negatives or to look down on the other two nurses who were working that night, but to show that in a situation where three nurses had opposing outlooks and perceptions of this client and the situation, Lizzy was able to look past the prior admits and high BALs and see that a higher level of care was needed. Her compassion and non-biased outlook took this clients safety and wellbeing into account and she made a decision and stuck to it.