Amber is an extraordinary nurse. She is a PRN nurse who floats to all different departments at Mission Children's and the Pediatric Cancer Center, and frequently finds herself working in a different area each day, or even multiple areas each day. No matter where she is working at any particular moment, Amber takes complete ownership in each department, as if it is her permanent full-time assignment. She is extremely flexible and adapts quickly and easily to the unique needs of each area with which she works.

The most recent example of Amber's unyielding dedication has to do with a patient from an affiliated office with which she has never worked. She encountered the patient from that office through the patient's many visits to the lab. Amber became involved with this particular patient due to her excellent skills and ability to successfully obtain blood from patients who are very difficult sticks. Over time, the family started to request Amber and scheduled their visits to the lab when they know she is working.

The medications this patient is taking require regular lab draws. Due to the patient's condition and other co-morbidities, the difficulty of drawing labs successfully has continued to increase. In addition, this patient has been transported via ambulance and air several times, and has had to have many intraosseous (IO) needle placements due to the difficulty of being able to start an IV. The IO placement puts the patient at risk for growth plate injury, osteomyelitis and callous formations, which can complicate correct and successful placement of future IO's. Without a central access device, this patient would continue to be at risk for being transported and having to have an IO placed each time.

The physicians and care managers involved with this patient had been talking with the family about a port-a-cath placement, but the family was very hesitant to proceed. Amber took it upon herself to make one last attempt to provide the family with compelling information and education of how this patient could benefit from a central access device. She spent a couple of weeks collecting data from different studies to present to the family. She used a port-a-cath kit to demonstrate for the family what a port looks like and how it works. Through conversations with her colleagues on the Pediatric floor, Amber was also able to obtain a patient interview video of a four-year-old boy who has a port and went on camera to talk about how much better his experiences are since he has the port. Amber spent over an hour with the family talking with them, answering their questions, providing clinical data and easing their fears. Now Amber is proudly informing the care team that the patient is scheduled for a pre-op appointment for port placement.

The time, care and dedication Amber has demonstrated with this family are exceptional. The fact that she went so far above and beyond in the best interest of a patient who wasn't even on her "assignment" speaks volumes to the kind of nurse and the kind of person Amber is.