Leslie has received the highest compliments from a recent mother whom she spoke with for care advice for her sick daughter. The mother feels that Leslie “saved her daughter’s life”. So often we are not aware of the life-changing impact of our daily work and this letter is a beautiful testament to the importance of the work that Leslie does through telephone triage. Callers come to our department with concerns about their children and nurses call back to walk them through the concerns, provide care advice, and follow up education.  Leslie is new (ish) to our department within the Pediatric Call Center and has acclimated to the culture and process work by fully integrating herself into quality improvement initiatives. She is a member of our call quality review committee which aims to standardize triage, ensure complete and accurate assessments, and drive education to our nursing team within the department. Her keen eye for standardization, attention to detail, and thoroughness have made her an asset to this committee. Leslie is a warm, compassionate, positive, and thoughtful nurse with her greatest focus being family-centered care. She aims to get the patient to the right place at the right time and increase parental comfort with managing their child’s illness-all over the telephone. With the mother’s permission, I would like to share the letter she wrote: 

 Hi Leslie,
 
You triaged me because both of my children had fevers. I only called because I was wondering what temperature was too high and I didn’t know when I should be concerned. My son was rubbing his ears a lot so you told me to take him in to check for an ear infection (which is all he had, thankfully.) My daughter had had the chills during the night for about an hour and a half. I assumed it was just from the fever. You said that was a potential sign of an infection and I needed to take her to the ER within the hour.
 
I’m not sure if you had any inclination of what was to come… she got really sick and was diagnosed with MIS-C. Her doctors said that she was so responsive to the treatments because we got her in so early. I couldn’t help but flash back to our conversation. I thought she just had the flu and was fine so I was shocked when you told me to take her to the ER. You easily could have told me to continue watching her at home. I wanted to say thank you for giving me the instructions that you did. Her outcome could have been so much worse. I really feel that our phone call was the most important conversation in this whole experience because it got her the care she needed so quickly. 
 
She was discharged and will have some follow up with her doctor and the cardiologist, but they don’t have any immediate concerns about long-term damage to her organs. I have tears in my eyes writing this. She spent her fourth birthday last week in the hospital. I am so grateful that we can celebrate her life and not grieve long-term health issues or worse...
 
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I can’t help but feel that you saved my daughter’s life. I will truly forever remember and be grateful for you.