Ashlea was the Charge RN in the clinical surgical services outpatient clinic when the most difficult event we all will typically ever have to witness within the medical field occurred, a death on our watch. There was a call for assistance within the lobby waiting room bathroom which quickly escalated to a call to assist an unresponsive patient. Upon responding, Ashlea and other nurses quickly determined the patient had no pulse and immediately initiated life-saving measures (CPR). Keep in mind this is in a low occurrence public area in which there were close to 200 patients scheduled to be seen. Coding patients and losing patients are not supposed to occur within Outpatient clinics. In this event, the patient was a stage 4 palliative care cancer patient in which any intervention to revive was futile. As this was becoming evident, and as per family request any further attempts to revive the patient was ceased in the presence of a provider.
During this situation, others were so impressed with Ashlea's ability to remain cool and calm, with a respectful demeanor for all. From all accounts, Ashlea remained level-headed as she and the staff initiated all the appropriate actions. Ashlea coordinated the management of dealing with the staff, patient family, providers, and ancillary staff. Upon post-event review, it was reflected by multiple sources that Ashlea's level-headedness assisted the family and staff to cope, yet at the same time, she ensured that the clinic continuedto run and treat those who still needed it. It was expressed to me by the covering manager that "your charge nurse Ashlea is a Rock Star" and that she was impressed and "she handled herself and the situation unbelievably well". It should also be noted that the EVS manager as well found me to express that "Ashlea was amazing". The EVS manager then went on to reflect that her EVS crew were visibly and verbally shaken, and Ashlea "Took the time to calmly reassure, talk to, and walk them through what was needed to clean up after a situation they have never encountered before". It was made very evident that Ashlea took the lead and dealt with a situation that we all wish we never have to and never expect to deal with in an outpatient setting.