On Thursday, we had a patient in the Main Operating Room who went into cardiac arrest upon transferring to the OR table. The patient's mother was made aware of his critical status, and she left the surgical waiting room to get some space. She walked to the cafeteria, where she became visibly overwhelmed and started to cry hysterically and pray aloud. This attracted some attention around her, but nobody jumped out of their seat to see if they could assist. Talarra, an operating room RN, happened to be sitting in the cafeteria eating her lunch. She took it upon herself to engage with the patient’s mother and do her best to comfort her during this difficult time. Talarra called her manager and expressed her desire to stay with the patient’s mother to keep her calm. At the mother’s request, she walked her outside to get some air. Shortly after this, the patient unfortunately expired as he was not able to be resuscitated. Talarra brought the mother back to the surgical waiting room to speak with the surgeon and stayed by her side. Following this, she went out of her way to support the family while they viewed their loved one in the operating room after he passed.

I am inspired by her compassion not only for our patients but also for our patient’s family members. This patient was not her patient, but she went above and beyond her job description to provide compassionate comfort, care, and support during the most difficult time in this mother’s life. It would have been easy for her to have passed the mother off to someone else or to have said, “I really need to get back to my assignment,” but she saw the opportunity to make a difference. I believe this family will always look back on this day with gratefulness to have had such a compassionate and selfless nurse guiding them through the unthinkable. Talarra truly represents MedStar’s SPIRIT values of service and patient first, and I am so thankful to have her on our team.