Melissa Bontreger, RN

I was called down to the main ED for a patient coming in by EMS with a postpartum hemorrhage. I went to L&D and asked Melissa (who was the OBED nurse) whether there was an OB hemorrhage cart in the main ED. She asked what was going on and immediately went to pull our standard OB hemorrhage medications and accompany me to the ED with the L&D hemorrhage cart. While there, we quickly realized that the patient was unstable and would need to go to the OR immediately for a D&C for retained placenta. However, the OR was not available, so I had to do what I could to stabilize the patient in the ED.
Melissa was so helpful - she was ready with whatever I needed and helped keep the patient and ED staff calm during a very stressful time. The ED staff are not used to managing postpartum hemorrhage, so Melissa was an invaluable assistant, even explaining to the ED staff what was going on. She gave the hemorrhage medications, helped me with the bedside ultrasound, and prepped my instruments for a bedside D&C and JADA placement. She had to squeeze through the crush of people in a small ED room (Trauma 1 was not available) to set up my suction, check vitals, and administer meds. She obtained a scale and weighed all the linens to obtain an accurate QBL. She gave report to the ED and STICU staff. While I was doing all that, she also fielded calls from L&D and triaged the available resources/personnel. Everything was done in a calm, professional manner that helped me to focus on caring for the patient in suboptimal conditions and we were able to stabilize the patient, with the assistance of the ED staff and physician.