A pandemic can be such a life-altering experience, one that brings out different aspects of a person's personality. While everyone who worked on the front lines went above and beyond and are heroes in their own right, there were the few that were guiding lights and pillars of strength through the darkness. MICU RN, Kristen, was already an exceptional ICU nurse before the pandemic; somebody her fellow staff members, patients, their families, as well as the management team all lean on for the excellent, consistent, and inspirational care she provides on a daily basis.
The MICU nurses were the first ICU nurses to take care of COVID patients and although in the beginning were apprehensive of the unknown, they delivered high quality and compassionate care to the sickest of the sick. As much as I am the nurse manager, Kristen is also very much a leader of the staff in her own right. Not only a microphone for the needs of her fellow nurses, but she is also a strong advocate for the needs of her patients and families, even the most vulnerable ones who often go unexpressed. She took the fact that patients were alone at their sickest moments very personally. It can be hard to develop bonds with patients who cannot communicate, those who you can only learn about through talking to their loved ones over the phone once or twice a day. However, Kristen took the initiative to FaceTime families multiple times a day, even when she did not have the time, and got to know what each patient liked to tailor their care. Whether it be playing their favorite music, hanging pictures of things they loved, or talking to them, even while sedated, to tell them their loved ones were calling to check on them constantly, gave them the will to continue fighting. She was the extended family of all these patients, specifically the patients in the makeshift ICUs. Kristen would personally facilitate communication between the doctors and myself about patients she thought might benefit from being in 8ICU with the pulmonary critical care doctors. She formed bonds with our long term patients in 8ICU and their loved ones, always wanting to know about their families, children, and things that can be hard to know while taking care of someone at their sickest moments.
Kristen knows that truly caring for a patient encompasses the family and loved ones as well. Despite the strict visitation restrictions imposed, she sought an opportunity to advocate for the family of one of our long term, critically ill, but very young patients with whom Kristen and the rest of the staff had grown close to. Kristen pushed and pushed me to allow the wife to briefly visit one time, knowing that this visit might help him overcome that hump and propel him to a better recovery process. She eventually won, as she often does, and it was the right call. Seeing this young couple together was a bright ray of hope, not only for them, but for the staff who were otherwise surrounded by death, anguish, frustration, and exhaustion.
Kristen is not only one of the best nurses I have ever worked with, she is just an extraordinary person. The pandemic brought all her amazing attributes to the forefront. I and the MICU team feel that she deserves to be recognized for the care and compassion she gave not only to the patients and their families but to the fellow nurses, doctors, and advance care providers that were often in situations and dealing with patients that they were not accustomed to. Platforms like this are excellent opportunities for institutions to acknowledge the hard work done minute by minute, hour by hour, from the front line staff and every recipient of awards like this are representative of the extraordinary things happening every day in this facility.