So often, we all hold our breath waiting for a happy ending so we can recognize and celebrate our efforts, but this team deserves recognition in the present, the work we are doing is improving lives, but this nomination was directed towards improving one individual’s outcome. The SICU team cared for a patient with trauma injuries and burns. Days and weeks passed when all SICU team members pulled together to care for this patient, first praying for him then optimistically hoping for a full recovery.

As individual clinicians, we have taken the sense of compassion for this patient, knowing he is a son, a brother, a boy who should make a full recovery from his medical condition. This capacity of our unit to display care is not isolated for this particular patient. In the past few years, the SICU staff has risen to many challenges of serving the burn population. In caring for our patients, we have come together and grown as a team. However, for this particular patient, we evolved and improved our processes. We have learned new protocols to care for his specialized needs. We have changed our daily practice to protect him from his fragile state. His care has called for nurses to embrace challenging tasks like taking charge during off-shifts. We fill each other’s water bottles. We have coordinated his extensive care as a team, assigning tasks to be completed if possible on each shift and helping each other with clinical skills. We have worked hard to preserve his individuality, making sure the TV is programmed to something he enjoys, helping him position himself just for comfort, and requesting care packages from local sports teams.

This patient eventually recovered and gained the functionality that he could plan his day around the schedules of his favorite local teams, such as the Phillies and 76ers. Respiratory, EVS, transport, PT/OT, speech, dietary, nursing, and physicians have come together to help this patient have the best possible recovery, including the return to normalcy after his hospitalization. I do not know what will happen to our patient in the coming months, even years, but I do know he has come this far in his survival journey because of the care he has received from the SICU team.

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A few months ago, the unit received a patient for burn management. The truly exceptional care that the team provided to him was like no other. Through the challenges of caring for his injuries that required constant changes in his plan of care and through the care delivery of a new treatment modality never done before at Jefferson, the staff remained committed. As he improved, the staff took the time to find out about him, including his family and friends and his love of sports. The continuous compassion, professionalism, and dedication demonstrated throughout his entire length of stay, along with their critical skill set, helped him achieve progress in his hospitalization course.

After a lengthy stay in the unit, he was transferred to the next step of his recovery. Without the staff and the other interprofessional team members, this would not have been possible. While our patient has a long road ahead of him, it was because of the compassion and expertise of the SICU staff that he has was able to make a full recovery.

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Almost 4 months ago we received a burn patient. The truly amazing care that the team provided to the patient was unlike no other. Through the challenges of the critical nature of all his injuries and through the care delivery of a new treatment modality never done before at Jefferson, the group provided exceptional care like no other team.