I just need to recognize Rachel for her hard work and listening to her gut last night. It's often easy to look at the data and brush off that gut feeling, but she didn't. After having two ultra-challenging shifts prior to last night's extra/incentive shift, she cared for a tough, agitated patient who was jumping out of bed every 1 to 3 minutes--literally. This made the usual tasks of the night frustratingly impossible.

Instead of having the CNA sit with the patient and carry on with her tasks, she stayed with the patient. She investigated more: doing a bladder scan and inserting a Foley, checking over labs and vitals, and critically thinking about what might be happening with her patient, whose agitation was increasing while his ability to communicate symptoms and concerns was dwindling. She called a STAT team because "something about him didn't feel right and he needed more eyes on him". There was nothing specific other than that he was inconsolable, escalating, and something just didn't feel right. More tests were done, and it was observed in a brief moment that his heart rhythm was abnormal (thank you for your close eye, M, ARN). A big, long hug from Mariah and a cool wash cloth gently rubbed on his face, and head seemed to bring him the most comfort, relaxation, and connection back to earth.

What he couldn't communicate was that he was close to dying. A little more than 1 hour after transfer to ICU, the patient almost coded, was intubated, and stabilized. Rachel listened to her gut and called in the team for extra help, getting more medical attention for her patient and hopefully saving his life. We are lucky to have Rachel as our fellow nurse and Clinical Team Lead. It was a wonderful team effort from 1N to ICU!

Note: This is Rachel's 2nd DAISY Award!