Back in November late in the evening, my wife's sister was admitted to the emergency room.  There were issues with blood pressure, infection, sepsis, heart, lung, and kidney.

Early Friday, she was moved up to ICU.  That's when we first met Bianca.  We were not really sure at that point just what was going on.  Bianca was able to take all the technical medical jargon and explain it very clearly in layman's terms for us.  We appreciated that. Obviously, she was very technically competent and knowledgeable about all the interactions among all the meds they were having to employ.  We saw many med pumps in the room.  Bianca was able to explain in layman's terms what each was intended to do.  We were now "up to speed" with the situation.  We felt that she was Bianca's top priority and she was in good hands.  We felt like Bianca truly cared.  We liked the way Bianca organized all the many tubes.  She made sure there were no kinks in the lines and that all of the lines were easy to find and check.  Clearly labeled.  She made sure it did not look like the jumble of cables behind someone's stereo system setup (or the Christmas tree lights).  She continued to provide a blend of "hope" with clarity of "reality" and the critical nature of the situation.  She helped us understand the risks of inserting a breathing tube when the Dr. arrived. That was a very stressful situation.

On Saturday she again provided us with a thorough overview of the night's events and brought us up to date.  Her blood pressure was back to a better level and was holding.  We noticed Bianca continually would write things on the whiteboard in the room.  She noted what she was doing and the time for the next check.  This seemed to us to provide a "continuity of care" for the next RN team that would take over in the next shift.  We liked the way she kept the room organized.  She would straighten things on the side tables.  Order new bags of medicine as she would see the current bags getting low. Did not want to run out and then try to get the next medicine bag.  She was continually tracking and entering new data into her portable computer.  She coordinated clearly and efficiently with the Dr.  She told us ahead of time about what to expect when she was transferred to the Dr. for the kidney-bladder operation. It was interesting that after that transfer and return, all the lines and cords were jumbled.  Bianca began immediately to straighten things out so she could see if all the lines were unkinked.  As her shift was near the end, she would make sure things were all set up for the next crew.  She would take time to explain things to the next RN.

On Sunday, Bianca called us at 9:30 am and the first thing she said was "everything is okay", and then proceeded to share the information.  That was very thoughtful to start the call that way.  Panic and fear was our first reaction to seeing the hospital phone number, and Bianca instantly calmed us down.  Bianca was very considerate of the patient's family members.  From the "get go" Bianca was making sure we understood things.  Her BP was holding above a minimal level, but things were still very critical.  Bianca had the ability to keep hope and optimism alive tempered with the realities of a large hill to climb.