Rebecca and Barry truly saved a man's life in the ED. AGH had sent a patient over who was very sick with a AAA. The patient was coming to PRMC to be rushed to the OR with cardiothoracic surgery. Upon arrival, the patient cardiac arrested. The ED staff was able to get the patient's pulse back, and at this time, the surgeon spoke with the family, and the patient was placed on comfort care, given the prognosis of surgery was poor. The patient was switched to comfort care.

Rebecca continued to monitor the patient. A few hours later, when she was checking on the patient and had weaned him off all the pressors, she noticed that the patient was waking up appropriately. She alerted Barry, her charge nurse that night, who called me. I came down from the ICU and assessed the patient, who was at this time following commands. As a team of nurses, the decision was made, and Barry paged the surgeon, who came from home at the early hours of the morning to reassess the patient.

Upon arrival, the family was called again from out of town and informed that the patient had improved in status and would now be a surgical candidate. Rebecca and Barry worked diligently to prepare the patient for emergency surgery as the OR team was called in. The patient then had a successful repair of the AAA, and days later was released from the hospital, alert and oriented, walking out with his family to return to PA. This patient received this second chance at life due to the diligent efforts of Barry and Rebecca. Their outstanding nursing skills and assessment truly saved a life.

Barry came up after surgery to see the patient who was eternally grateful. I spoke with the family prior to discharge in person, and they teared up talking about the amazing experience they had here at PRMC. They wanted me to thank the nurses who had saved their loved one's life that night. Barry and Rebecca are nurses who truly made a huge impact!