Recently, Marlee floated off her home unit to our med-surg unit; we passed a patient back and forth during our shifts. After completing handoff and being done with her night shift, Marlee asked me if I would be able to give the patient something if she tubed it up to me. She mentioned she had tried to find him a stuffed animal earlier in the shift but had not been successful, but she wanted him to have something.

After leaving our floor, she went back to her home unit and got a special stuffed animal for him. Not only did she make sure he had one, but this patient was awaiting surgery for an extremity that, meanwhile, had been splinted. All I knew, when I grabbed the tube from the station, was that there would be a stuffed animal in it, but I had no idea he would have a makeshift cast on, just like our patient would have soon. I work in pediatrics, so I see a lot of very sweet and thoughtful things, but this was one of the most. It made me a little emotional thinking about how above and beyond Marlee went for this patient, even after a float shift when most people would just want to go home. Marlee is such a caring, devoted, and loving nurse- truly exceptional.