The Unicorn! I would like to thank my co-worker Kately Thomason RN. One day after 2 pm a wonderful family asked for a second opinion and a transfer to another hospital after three admissions. The family complimented all the nurses care and physicians at Mercy. Their teenage son was newly diagnosed with seizures, and they were seeking more answers. On a Saturday, this is a very difficult feat to accomplish, but Katelyn was determined, and I was NOT optimistic. Katelyn sat down with the family and took down names of hospitals that they were interested in. Katelyn reached out to two hospitals, Mayo and Iowa City. Records were sent, images pushed, and the Hospitalist called with the parents' wishes. Mayo turned the family down. Katelyn then started the process for Iowa City. The fax machine broke, and she walked to another unit to continue. This took hours while still taking care of her two patients between faxes, calls, machine malfunctions. I left at 1930 and received a text from Katelyn. "I am staying for another nurse until 11 pm, her son is in the ER". So, Katelyn went from a 12-hour shift to a 16-hour shift. During that extra 4 hours, Iowa City called and accepted the admission. Katelyn was able to celebrate by telling the parents. At 6:30 am the next morning, the child was loaded and on his way to seek new answers.

Katelyn wore many caps this Saturday. First and most importantly, nurse, then social worker, transport coordinator, medical record fax courier, ear to the family who was often in tears, and team player. Katelyn was a great teammate and friend by staying for the nurse who needed to be a mom to her son in the ER. This I call a "unicorn" day for Katelyn: "a highly desirable goal but difficult to obtain." As a non-emergency transfer this could have been left until Monday where everything would be much, much easier with the help of other ancillary departments. I thought it was a heck of a day and exactly the reason we became nurses. The big nonmonetary personal payoff. Thank you, Katelyn!