A patient arrived on our unit to have his port flushed. As he was leaving, he spotted Christa and said, “There you are, you saved my life.”

This is their story:
They have one small child at home and the patient was sent to receive blood as an outpatient. Their baby was sick at home with another relative and the mother/wife was worried about both the baby and the husband. At the end of the transfusion the patient spiked a temp, but just wanted to go home, his child was sick and his wife was worried. Christa called the MD to receive additional orders and the nursing instinct kicked in. Christa remembered, “You were really sick.” The patient needed to transfer to inpatient status, but wanted to sign out AMA. Christa told the patient “If after you see the doctor you can convince him you can leave fine, but you are not leaving on my watch.” As it turned out the man was septic and in renal failure. Obviously, his doctor didn’t allow him to leave. He spent 10 days in house. The patient stated, “I wanted to come down here and cuss you out I was so mad you didn’t let me leave…but if you had I would be dead. So, thank you for not letting me go.”

Christa never mentioned this when it happened and seemed to not think it was a big deal that she fought for the patient even though he didn’t know how important it was at the time.

Christa is a BLS instructor and not only keeps ATC current on their CPR certification but also holds classes for other departments. She is on the Research Council and this year did a massive research to ensure ATC’s policies were supported by evidence-based practice. Above all, Christa has great instincts and I can honestly say she is a true patient advocate.