Cassandra Giaimo
December 2019
Cassandra
Giaimo
,
RN
3 West Medical Surgical
Southern New Hampshire Medical Center
Nashua
,
NH
United States

 

 

 

A seasoned nurse knocked on my door wanting to share a story. This usually means something has gone awry and needs attention. To my surprise, this was a story of greatness. This story is about a young nurse who trusted her gut and advocated for a patient in distress. Cassandra, with under a year of experience, had a complicated patient with several issues going on post-operatively. Compounding these issues was a continued change in mentation which is often brushed aside as post-operative delirium or narcotic use. Cassandra felt it was something more. She couldn't pinpoint what that something was, but she trusted her gut enough to call the provider and report the change. She also clearly shared her concern with the oncoming nurse which elevated the overall level of concern and monitoring of the patient. As a result of her keen observational skills, this patient received a consult from the Hospitalist doctor. Subsequently, an extensive stroke workup and transfer to the ICU ultimately saved this patient's life. The innate sense of a nurse can easily be overshadowed by feelings of inadequacy when you are new to nursing. I applaud her for her willingness to trust her intuition without the facts to back it up; I applaud her for sharing her assessment with a nurse with more years of experience than she has even been alive, and I applaud her for remaining a strong patient advocate when others did not see what she saw.