Great Catch winner announced

Frederick Ewusie, RN, Bridgeport Hospital Emergency Department, won the Great Catch Award for October after sounding the alarm to help a critically ill patient being treated for urosepsis. Ewusie noticed that the patient kept leaning to one side of the stretcher and needed to be repositioned frequently while being examined. Suspecting neurological deficits, Ewusie escalated his concerns to the ED physician and activated a stroke alert. The patient ultimately was diagnosed with an acute embolus and was transferred to the Medical Intensive Care Unit for timely treatment.

Tiffany Denepitiya-Balicki, MD, Anesthesiology, was recognized for her attention to detail when a patient with dementia arrived in the Operating Room. Noticing the patient’s lower-than-expected oxygen saturation, Dr. Denepitiya-Balicki called the patient’s son to get more information about his mother’s health history. That conversation prompted her to order a CT scan of the patient’s chest that showed a previously undetected, life-threatening pulmonary embolism. Dr. Denepitiya-Balicki “stopped the line” and canceled the surgery.