Mona, the charge nurse, came in and knelt next to the patient's spouse and asked her how she is doing. She asked if the wife had all she needed, including daily medications. The wife was not prepared to spend days at bedside, so Mona assured her that she was not to leave her dying husband. Mona put the needs of the patient's wife before other responsibilities, knowing that there were but a few precious hours that she and her husband had left.

Together as a team, under Mona's direction, we made sure that this man spent his final hours comfortably instead of moving him off to a more appropriate bed assignment. Mona also advocated that he and his family remain in the room until the daughter could see her father. She did not want the meeting to happen in the morgue. The daughter will be coming from the Philippines. This type of empathic end of life care might be expected on an Oncology unit or an ICU but it is not the norm on an ortho unit. She provided exceptional, personalized care.