Katie is the epitome of what an amazing nurse is and what a sacrifice it takes to give yourself entirely to your patients. It was a full moon night when I walked onto the unit and I saw Katie in tears. We had not even begun our shift and I could tell by the look on her face that something was very wrong. With only 10 minutes to go until we clocked-in I was preparing myself to break apart her team and distribute them to the other nurses which would have made it an even more challenging night for everyone. Ten minutes later Katie was present at huddle with a smile on her face and her always peppy "let's do this" attitude. Although Katie was not the charge nurse that night, she stepped up and took charge of the situation at hand. Katie has so many amazing qualities and characteristics and one of the things that makes her so special is her ability to have what we like to call "coming to Jesus moments". Rather than just nurture the patient and make them feel cared for, Katie has the unique ability to be able to take the patient out of their comfort zone and have a conversation with them that's initially uncomfortable and can seem mildly abrasive, while simultaneously showing that she cares. She does not do this because she is spiteful, burnt out or annoyed at the situation, but as a good mother will push her children to become better people, she will push her patients to help themselves. She was able to do this with a patient who had recently received an amputation and wasn't putting in the effort to move on her own because the pain was too high. Katie was able to help her by explaining that it was not an easy hand to be dealt, and things were not going to be a walk in the park, but she needed to realize that if she didn't put forth the effort and work through the pain and fear she would never get better. That's all that Katie wanted.
As the night progressed Katie realized that the staff included nurses who were still fairly green and had not seen and experienced all the things there are to experience as a nurse. Katie noticed that a patient was not doing well in her O2 saturation and that the nurse caring for her was looking a little bit scared. Being the most seasoned nurse on the floor she didn't just push her out of the way and say, "let me take care of this for you", but instead, stepped beside her and showed her what was happening. What was happening was that the patient was dying, and no one else knew what to do. Katie realized this and turned into three different people. She turned into a mother, able to comfort the nurse and help her to learn from this experience. She turned into a voice for the patient and a true advocate for what was right in the moment. And she turned into an angel who helped a dying lady move on comfortably. She was able to put her entire attention to helping this lady whom she'd never met and had no true responsibility to care for as she had five patients of her own at that time. She balanced her entire patient load by asking for help on check-ins and passing meds, which enabled her to focus her attention on this dying patient. When the physician arrived and rattled off orders that might be appropriate for most, Katie knew the wishes of the patient and her family to be a DNR/DNI, and was able to politely inform the MD that those orders might not be appropriate. She called the family and informed them of the situation and greeted them lovingly when they arrived. She was there for the next 2 hours as the patient slowly let go of life and peacefully passed. She then assured the family and the nurse caring for the patient that everything was going to be OK and that we did all that we could do to help this transition. At the end of the shift, when all was said and done, after all we'd been through together that night, she gave us a hug, smiled and said, "I'll see you tomorrow".
Katie truly is an angel in this world. She is a hero to new nurses and old, and she was the most important person in that moment. Anyone who comes in contact with Katie will be better off after their interaction whether it be her patients, their families, or her coworkers.
Katie came to work and she needed help herself, but she put aside her own troubles, and stepped up not only to take care of her staff and her patients but she became an angel to someone who was about to become one. She is an advocate, and a nurturing, caring soul. She plays the tough mom card, and she's always there for you. Katie is selfless every day and does what is right for her patients and her coworkers and is always a leader even when she doesn't have to be.