We had an elderly patient with severe dementia who was DNR and came in with urosepsis. He was transferred to the floor from ICU after two days. The patient was almost ready to be discharged on and waiting for bed when he had severe hypotension. Shannon was so smart to not call rapid response reflexively and rather called me and suggested that we should talk to the family. She suggested keeping the patient on the floor with IV fluids, and not transferring him to ICU. This was such reasonable decision making for a patient with this level of functional status.
Furthermore, Shannon was proactive in calling the patient's MPOA and discussed all the options with her. I subtly suggested that keeping him comfortable on the floor with IVs would be best; the MPOA went with what Shannon suggested and agreed the patient not have any aggressive medical treatments. The patient finally died very comfortably within four hours. What a great outcome. I wish more nurses had such great understanding regarding end-of-life care issues. I am highly impressed with Shannon! The patient was so lucky to have her as his nurse.