Flor Flores goes above and beyond with all her patients. This is just one account of her amazing work. Recently, there was a 2-year-old child for dental rehab with Dr. S. I had been getting calls several days before, alerting me to the parents who were extremely nervous about their child undergoing general anesthesia. Per Dr. S, he was also communicating daily with the family leading up to the surgery.

On the day of surgery, Flor was the preop nurse taking care of the family and the patient. When I met the family, they did not seem as nervous, and I could see that Flor was interacting with them and had calmed the family down before I got there. After the patient examination and interview, I really think the child is autistic, and he started to become very agitated. I ordered Versed, but I knew that it would be difficult for the patient to take it. I was elated when somehow Flor and the mother were able to get the child to take the entire Versed/Tylenol. The medication worked well. Just before going back, the mother stated to Flor that she was told that she could go back for the induction. I was, however, told by another anesthesiologist that the mother had not requested to go back for induction. I had Flor get the mom dressed appropriately for the OR. Once in the room and after induction, Flor was able to escort the mother and reassure her that everything was going to be okay on their way to the waiting room.

After surgery started, Flor then let me know that the family had orders from their pediatrician for blood work to be done while he was under anesthesia, as the patient could not tolerate blood draws. Flor called the lab, and the lab said that the only way to get the labs is if the family creates a separate account. Flor spoke with the family, and she arranged for the family to get a registration for the blood draw. She also called the pediatrician’s office to get information about the blood draw. Since we do not routinely do blood draws for ASC, Flor went to the main hospital to get the correct tubes. I did the blood draw, Flor took the blood back to the lab. In the meantime, the patient had the surgery and was then taken to the PACU. I spoke with the family in the PACU. They were calm, and I am convinced it was because of Flor’s attention and empathy. I was making arrangements to get the family the lab results, as I thought the results would be in much later. Flor quickly logged in, and to my surprise, the labs were ready. Flor printed them out and gave the results to the mother. Flor went above and beyond the call of duty from start to finish. I have been a physician for 30 years and this clearly represents a level of nursing care that exceeds all expectations. She deserves recognition, and I recommend her highly.