December 2020
Sara
Cohen
,
MSN, RN, RNC-NIC, NPD-BC, WTA
Nursing Education
Pennsylvania Hospital
While Sara has the organizational skills, global understanding, and title of a nurse educator, she maintains and continues to cultivate the clinical touch and quick instincts of the best bedside nurses.
Intuitively it makes sense for DAISY Award Honorees to be bedside nursing staff. After all, as our website suggests, the candidate should be a "patient care provider." As such, it may seem odd that I am nominating Sara Cohen for who the last several years has worked as a clinical nurse education specialist.
A patient on 5Cathcart called out for help and Sara instantly responded. The patient is a 59-year-old female with cervical cancer s/p chemo and radiation and numerous comorbidities who had been admitted a few days earlier with recurrent hematuria and a syncopal episode. When Sara entered the room, the patient was hemorrhaging into the toilet, and then she lost consciousness. Sara acted quickly to alert the emergency response team and then to get the patient into position so that life-saving measures could take place.
The patient had a PEA arrest with hemorrhagic shock from massive ureteral bleeding due to a high external iliac artery-ureter fistula. She was brought back to ROSC after 2 minutes of CPR and one dose of EPI and then stabilized with a massive transfusion protocol and bilateral internal iliac embolization. During this experience, the patient suffered acute kidney injury that is likely to require hemodialysis for some amount of time, but she is alive. This is in no small part because of the quick and decisive actions of Sara who continued to stay involved in the CRT after the arrival of the CRT team as a documenter.
Furthermore, Sara also made sure that the staff were supported throughout the entire CRT - asking if anyone needed water and also helping coordinate many of the moving pieces. She specifically made sure that the nurse of this patient had someone to cover her assignment and that she was able to take a much-needed step away from the bedside after the CRT was over. Sara even offered to cover her assignment for her to get this time away after the CRT. Sara has visited this patient multiple times since because she is intrinsically the type of nurse who does that kind of thing.
After a recent visit, the patient told Sara that she knows she has a rough road ahead, but expressed how grateful she is that she will still be able to spend time with her daughter. This is not some isolated right place at the right time act of nursing heroism, which in my opinion, would be deserving of this award on its own. It needs to be said that Sara's actions here are a part of a pattern. While Sara has the organizational skills, global understanding, and title of a nurse educator, she maintains and continues to cultivate the clinical touch and quick instincts of the best bedside nurses. More than that, she frequently interacts with and serves our patients at the bedside with compassion and kindness. Sometimes this can be the regular day-to-day stuff.
For instance, just a few weeks ago, Sara answered a call bell to assist in ambulating and bathing a patient when the nursing staff was busy. I have previously watched her spend hours helping a patient emotionally cope with their situation because they called out when she walked by and saw her take assignments in the intensive care nursery (where she previously worked as a clinical nurse) during staffing crunches. But often with Sara, it can be more than that. The story above is but one example.
I have seen her dash off to multiple RRTs, CRTs, and stat security calls to offer help. It is one thing to hear of or to witness this support from an administrative nurse, but it is another thing to feel it happening at the bedside. I know what it is to be in a hectic RRT with Sara beside me helping ensure a patient hemorrhaging from the throat did not choke on his own blood. Heck, in the time between when I started a draft of this and the day I submitted it (literally just 3 days) she was involved in another code on 5 Cathcart in which she delivered chest compressions and provided support to staff. Because of this, I am firm in my belief that Sara IS a patient care provider, and suspect many of my fellow staff would agree. She literally talks the talk and walks the walk.
When I read through the criteria for the DAISY Award, I know Sara embodies all of it. In the case of the patient, Sara made a difference by helping to save a life. Her bedside contributions are not always that intense but her presence as a patient care provider is consistent, valuable, and a true asset to the nurses and patients at Pennsylvania Hospital.
A patient on 5Cathcart called out for help and Sara instantly responded. The patient is a 59-year-old female with cervical cancer s/p chemo and radiation and numerous comorbidities who had been admitted a few days earlier with recurrent hematuria and a syncopal episode. When Sara entered the room, the patient was hemorrhaging into the toilet, and then she lost consciousness. Sara acted quickly to alert the emergency response team and then to get the patient into position so that life-saving measures could take place.
The patient had a PEA arrest with hemorrhagic shock from massive ureteral bleeding due to a high external iliac artery-ureter fistula. She was brought back to ROSC after 2 minutes of CPR and one dose of EPI and then stabilized with a massive transfusion protocol and bilateral internal iliac embolization. During this experience, the patient suffered acute kidney injury that is likely to require hemodialysis for some amount of time, but she is alive. This is in no small part because of the quick and decisive actions of Sara who continued to stay involved in the CRT after the arrival of the CRT team as a documenter.
Furthermore, Sara also made sure that the staff were supported throughout the entire CRT - asking if anyone needed water and also helping coordinate many of the moving pieces. She specifically made sure that the nurse of this patient had someone to cover her assignment and that she was able to take a much-needed step away from the bedside after the CRT was over. Sara even offered to cover her assignment for her to get this time away after the CRT. Sara has visited this patient multiple times since because she is intrinsically the type of nurse who does that kind of thing.
After a recent visit, the patient told Sara that she knows she has a rough road ahead, but expressed how grateful she is that she will still be able to spend time with her daughter. This is not some isolated right place at the right time act of nursing heroism, which in my opinion, would be deserving of this award on its own. It needs to be said that Sara's actions here are a part of a pattern. While Sara has the organizational skills, global understanding, and title of a nurse educator, she maintains and continues to cultivate the clinical touch and quick instincts of the best bedside nurses. More than that, she frequently interacts with and serves our patients at the bedside with compassion and kindness. Sometimes this can be the regular day-to-day stuff.
For instance, just a few weeks ago, Sara answered a call bell to assist in ambulating and bathing a patient when the nursing staff was busy. I have previously watched her spend hours helping a patient emotionally cope with their situation because they called out when she walked by and saw her take assignments in the intensive care nursery (where she previously worked as a clinical nurse) during staffing crunches. But often with Sara, it can be more than that. The story above is but one example.
I have seen her dash off to multiple RRTs, CRTs, and stat security calls to offer help. It is one thing to hear of or to witness this support from an administrative nurse, but it is another thing to feel it happening at the bedside. I know what it is to be in a hectic RRT with Sara beside me helping ensure a patient hemorrhaging from the throat did not choke on his own blood. Heck, in the time between when I started a draft of this and the day I submitted it (literally just 3 days) she was involved in another code on 5 Cathcart in which she delivered chest compressions and provided support to staff. Because of this, I am firm in my belief that Sara IS a patient care provider, and suspect many of my fellow staff would agree. She literally talks the talk and walks the walk.
When I read through the criteria for the DAISY Award, I know Sara embodies all of it. In the case of the patient, Sara made a difference by helping to save a life. Her bedside contributions are not always that intense but her presence as a patient care provider is consistent, valuable, and a true asset to the nurses and patients at Pennsylvania Hospital.