This nurse has made a tremendous impact within our unit, as well as on the lives of many of our patients. One day there was a rapid called at CAP for a child in the parking lot whose parents pulled in off the street because they thought CAP was an ED. Although this nurse was not on the ARRT at the time, she responded to the call. The patient was suffering from a seizure due to her eating marijuana gummies the night before at her paternal Grandmother's house. Mom and Dad were feuding, and the Mom was inconsolable at the time.

This nurse removed Mom from the scene while others assisted with the child, and was able to calm Mom down after lots of encouragement and reassurance. Although this nurse did not directly assist the child, she was able to assess the situation and found a quick solution to help the best way that she could. This allowed medical professionals to do their job in a less stressful environment. With our clinic being on the first floor at CAP, this nurse responded to many rapid calls prior to her joining the ARRT a few months ago.

The number of times that she's assisted patients and families, whether the patient was ours or not, is too many to count. There was another situation where an ENT patient was attacking his mother in the lobby, and one of the front desk employees ran to this nurse for help. She quickly ran out and assisted another parent with getting the patient off of his mom. Unfortunately, during the process, this nurse was hit in the chest by the patient but was not harmed.

However, this did not stop her from trying to de-escalate the situation. She got security involved and contacted her Clinical Ops manager to make sure the patient didn't need to be transferred to AMBH. This nurse and another parent were able to calm the patient down and helped get him into the car, but Mom was still discombobulated and had a handful of her hair that the patient pulled out during the attack.

This nurse comforted Mom and stayed with her until Dad arrived just to ensure the patient didn't attempt to attack her again. Prior to this nurse going out to the scene, the patient had hit a much younger patient who was waiting for an ENT appointment, and it left a gash on her forehead. This nurse and the ENT MA provided aid to the patient, and she was still able to have her appointment.

After everything had settled down and an ONS was submitted, this nurse met with the charge nurse for ENT and discussed adding a behavioral alert to the patient's chart. The patient has been with CHOA since birth, but no one had ever added any type of alert to the chart about his aggressive behavior towards others. This nurse also asked the charge nurse to follow up with both patients to make sure they were okay. This nurse's actions not only provided safety for the patient and his family, but also for other CHOA employees that this patient will come in contact with down the line.

This nurse was awarded the Shooting Star Award this past Nurses' Week, and it was truly deserved. She's offered major patient and peer support through her various roles at CAP, including Ambulatory Safety Coach, VFC Coordinator, ARRT member, Strong 4 Life Children's Champion, and Mentor Champion. She continuously devotes her time to patient safety and quality care. This past year, she created a BPI for lab orders for our providers, and it has made a tremendous difference in our department in terms of lab errors.

As a result of this BPI, the number of repeat labs due to an error has significantly decreased. Her continuous efforts to make a difference in our patients' lives are truly admirable, and I'm grateful to have her as a part of the Children's family. She is currently pursuing her MSN in Education, and there is no doubt that she will continue to soar and educate others on how to provide safe and quality care to both our patients and their families.