Sarah Blanchard
August 2021
Sarah
Blanchard
,
MSN, RN, PCCN-K
PSU5/Rapid Response Team
Advocate Christ Medical Center
Oak Lawn
,
IL
United States
Sarah is the reason I am pursing a dual master's degree in nursing leadership because she is the whole package as a leader.
You haven’t met the most compassionate and dynamic nurse leader until you have met Sarah Blanchard from the Progressive Step-Down Unit on 5 West. I have known Sarah for years and the impact she has made on the patients and staff of PSU5 is beyond significant. Sarah has been through many leadership roles on PSU5 from starting as an ACM, to MCO, and now to a CPS. I started off my journey in healthcare as PCIA on PSU5 only to gain patient care hours for my Physician Assistant graduate program. Under the leadership of Sarah, it didn’t take me long to realize how extraordinary the critical care nurses were with their patients. I ended up switching my major from biology to nursing after working on PSU5 for only 2 weeks.
Sarah is the reason I am pursing a dual master's degree in nursing leadership because she is the whole package as a leader. She is often found answering call lights, covering breaks, helping out with admissions, and rounding on staff. She treats everyone on the unit with the utmost respect and will go to endless lengths to accommodate any team member. Sarah exemplifies Advocate’s behaviors of excellence and always has her team members’ best interest in mind.
One morning, I was bathing one of my patients with the primary nurse and the patient went unresponsive. We were two doors down from Sarah’s office and I knew that if Sarah was on the unit, her door would be open. I screamed out, “Hey Sarah can you help us in here?!” and within seconds she came running in to help us. Sarah knew exactly what to do. I watched Sarah grab the crash cart, put the pads on, and slide the CPR board under this patient as if she knew what was going to happen next. The patient’s heart rate dropped, and he eventually lost a pulse. The code team was called, and I backed out of the room to let the nurses take over.
Sarah came running out of the room and grabbed me so I could get in the rotation to perform CPR. Sarah knew that performing CPR was one of my personal goals that year and she coached me through the entire code. After I graduated with my BSN and passed my NCLEX, I moved up to MICU as a nurse and it was one of the hardest decisions for me because I knew that Sarah was not going to be my leader anymore. About a week ago I stopped by to visit Sarah on PSU5, and I was not surprised at the situation. PSU5 was short-staffed a PCIA that day, so naturally I found Sarah acting as a sitter for a patient on the unit. In the 10 mins that I was visiting Sarah, there were 4 RRTs called, and Sarah knew that the rapid response team was also short-staffed that day. Sarah quickly reacted to the 4th RRT call by finding a staff member to sit for that patient and by running off the unit to respond to the fourth rapid response call.
Sarah is currently acting as PSU5’s CPS and interim MCO, and she only works part-time. Even though she had many manager and educator tasks to do that day, the sitter patient and RRT patient came first in her eyes. Sarah is the nurse leader that drops anything in a moment's notice for any patient or team member. That is why she is deserving of this DAISY Nurse Leader Award. Sarah, thank you for everything you do every single day for the patients and staff here at Advocate Christ Medical Center- you make lasting impacts on the many lives you have touched.
Sarah is the reason I am pursing a dual master's degree in nursing leadership because she is the whole package as a leader. She is often found answering call lights, covering breaks, helping out with admissions, and rounding on staff. She treats everyone on the unit with the utmost respect and will go to endless lengths to accommodate any team member. Sarah exemplifies Advocate’s behaviors of excellence and always has her team members’ best interest in mind.
One morning, I was bathing one of my patients with the primary nurse and the patient went unresponsive. We were two doors down from Sarah’s office and I knew that if Sarah was on the unit, her door would be open. I screamed out, “Hey Sarah can you help us in here?!” and within seconds she came running in to help us. Sarah knew exactly what to do. I watched Sarah grab the crash cart, put the pads on, and slide the CPR board under this patient as if she knew what was going to happen next. The patient’s heart rate dropped, and he eventually lost a pulse. The code team was called, and I backed out of the room to let the nurses take over.
Sarah came running out of the room and grabbed me so I could get in the rotation to perform CPR. Sarah knew that performing CPR was one of my personal goals that year and she coached me through the entire code. After I graduated with my BSN and passed my NCLEX, I moved up to MICU as a nurse and it was one of the hardest decisions for me because I knew that Sarah was not going to be my leader anymore. About a week ago I stopped by to visit Sarah on PSU5, and I was not surprised at the situation. PSU5 was short-staffed a PCIA that day, so naturally I found Sarah acting as a sitter for a patient on the unit. In the 10 mins that I was visiting Sarah, there were 4 RRTs called, and Sarah knew that the rapid response team was also short-staffed that day. Sarah quickly reacted to the 4th RRT call by finding a staff member to sit for that patient and by running off the unit to respond to the fourth rapid response call.
Sarah is currently acting as PSU5’s CPS and interim MCO, and she only works part-time. Even though she had many manager and educator tasks to do that day, the sitter patient and RRT patient came first in her eyes. Sarah is the nurse leader that drops anything in a moment's notice for any patient or team member. That is why she is deserving of this DAISY Nurse Leader Award. Sarah, thank you for everything you do every single day for the patients and staff here at Advocate Christ Medical Center- you make lasting impacts on the many lives you have touched.