Keck Culture

Yesterday, as I was walking into the ICU at 7 a.m., they had just brought in a patient from the floor who was unresponsive and had gone into respiratory failure. It was clear that he was going to need emergent intubation and other life-saving interventions. Unfortunately, because I had my own patient assignment, I knew I was not going to be much help as a Charge Nurse. I called Elizabeth, who was in charge on the 4th floor, before 7:30 a.m. and informed her we needed her help in the ICU. Without any hesitation, she came right over and took over my charge nurse duties. She put in emergency verbal orders in Cerner, procured equipment/supplies, picked up blood products, paged doctors, made/answered phone calls, answered call lights, quickly oriented our registry PCT who had never been in the ICU before and delegated tasks to her. She also stayed for more than two hours, until that patient was somewhat stabilized and I was done troubleshooting my CRRT and was able to leave my patient’s room to be a partial charge nurse.

Thank you, Liz for stepping out of your comfort zone and entering our war zone! I truly believe we (and the patient) would not have survived those 2 very critical hours had it not been for your help!

Cathy is a tenacious leader and role model for all. She coordinates schedules, ensures her managers are present for rounds and mobilizes availability for staff to engage with team members. Not only does Cathy ensure her managers and staff engage but she also participates and that direct participation displays her patience, dedication, and conscious commitment not only to the rounds process but to providing Consistent World Class Patient Care. Thank you Cathy for all your support with Patient Safety, Quality, and EOC rounds and for delivering our organization’s values with a smile — We appreciate it!!

Recently, Jessica missed her morning train, so she ended up driving into work. While sitting in traffic, she witnessed an SUV and motorcyclist collide. The driver of the motorcycle was thrown off his bike and rolled several times on the pavement before finally coming to a stop. Jessica immediately got out of her car and ran to the driver on the pavement. In typical Jessica style, she quickly took control of the situation and took the lead in assigning bystanders jobs. “You call 911”, “you get a blanket”, etc. Fortunately, the motorcyclist was wearing a helmet, and was awake and alert. He did, however, seem to sustain serious injuries to his arms and legs. While waiting for the paramedics, Jessica did what she could to keep the motorcyclist calm, including a quick neuro assessment while stabilizing his head and neck. She also helped facilitate calls to his employer and family. Jessica also left her contact information with the motorcyclist’s wife. After it was all over, Jessica then got back into her car and went about her day as any other.