February 2022
Colleen
Gauer
,
RN
PICU
The Hospital for Sick Children
Toronto
,
Ontario
Canada
She used her voice as a frontline clinician to escalate a concern that has a significant impact on the psychological safety of patients at SickKids.
Colleen provided excellent, equitable care to a patient at SickKids. The patient had shared with them some things that were impacting their experience at SickKids, and Colleen escalated the situation by filing a safety report. While she couldn't completely resolve the situation for the patient in the moment, her empathy and compassion for this patient have helped us move forward with the identified issues. Colleen's commitment to excellent child and family-centered care was very clear in this instance. She used her voice as a frontline clinician to escalate a concern that has a significant impact on the psychological safety of patients at SickKids. Colleen made this patient feel supported in sharing their experience and feelings, and in turn, will continue to impact patient care positively in the future. This escalation will lead to an equitable review of our language in policies and procedures, and help us move forward with our work on supporting all patients through inclusive language.