November 2020
Marissa
Adams
,
LPN
Emergency Department
Comanche County Memorial Hospital

 

 

 

I would like to bring your attention to a very gifted LPN we have working in our Emergency Department. A patient was seen in our ED with complaints of chest pain- he was seen by an ED Resident, an ED attending, and then by our nocturnal Hospitalist and he was admitted to the hospital on the Chest Pain Protocol. In the morning, I received a call from Marissa Adams, LPN who had just assumed care of the patient. She intuitively knew something was amiss with this patient and called to ask for him to be reassessed. On reassessment, it was found that this patient was experiencing an extensive aortic dissection with an extensive periaortic hematoma and a massive hemopericardium with tamponade. This of course prompted an urgent consult with a Cardiovascular Surgeon and the patient was taken urgently to the OR. Marissa Adams was the point person who changed the trajectory for this patient and certainly saved his life. I felt strongly that she needed to be recognized for her huge contribution to the care of this patient.