Jennie Mathis gave extremely great care to a patient in PreOp. Her astute nursing care was demonstrated through her top-notch assessment skills. On Friday Jennie had a patient that injured his ankle several days prior. Upon Jennie’s assessment of the patient in Preop, she listened to the patient’s concern for worsening calf pain that had onset 4 days prior. Jennie measured both of the patient’s calves and immediately reported her findings to the provider who then ordered a stat ultrasound of the patient’s legs. The patient was incidentally found to have several DVTs in his lower leg veins and had to be transported to the hospital.

If Jennie had not been so astute and intuitive with her assessment there may have been an unfortunate patient event as going under anesthesia with a known DVT could have dislodged the clot and caused a pulmonary embolism. Jennie should be recognized for not only this event, but for the several other “good catches” where she has helped to prevent undue injury to patients. Jennie is a leader in PreOp but rarely takes any credit for her nursing judgment, leadership, and assessment skills.