July 2021
Falida
Enfendic
,
RN
Mother Baby
St. Luke's Medical Center
Boise
,
ID
United States
If Falida wouldn’t have trusted her nursing intuition, this patient may not have been diagnosed.
Falida cared for this patient on our mother-baby unit after she had her 3rd baby. The patient had no complications during her pregnancy or delivery. While the patient was brushing her teeth, she noticed her tongue was a bit numb and called Falida in to ask if that was normal Falida assessed her and decided nothing else was abnormal. She had her stick out her tongue and it veered ever so slightly to the right. As the ANM on at the time, she had called me to ask my opinion and stated she was worried and just felt like something was wrong. I told her to call the crisis nurse to assess for the need for a code stroke. The crisis nurse came up and assessed and decided everything was within normal limits. Falida called the MD on call and asked what to do next. The MD on call did not have a ton of experience and asked Falida what she thought the next steps should be. Falida suggested a CT scan so the MD ordered one. In CT, they noted multiple lesions and called the MD to suggest ordering a full-body MRI. The MD did so and the results showed that the patient had tumors and lesions in her lungs, liver, spine, and possibly bone marrow. Biopsy of the liver lesion showed malignant cancer that had metastasized. The patient will follow up with oncology within the week. If Falida wouldn’t have trusted her nursing intuition, this patient may not have been diagnosed. Falida gave this patient hope to receive treatment in a timely manner. The patient really bonded with Falida, they cried together and Falida was the best possible nurse for her and her family. Falida is an extraordinary nurse. Falida you were a Sentry for this patient and your advocacy was strong and true. Thank you for making a difference.