Amardeep Sohal
January 2023
Amardeep
Sohal
,
RN, MSN
Intensive Care Unit
Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center
Santa Clara
,
CA
United States

 

 

 

She led prayer circles in their language at the bedside and provided immense emotional support for the patient's wife and son.
Mr. G, the patient, was a 59-year-old man with a history of alcoholic cirrhosis who had a prolonged hospital course for decompensated cirrhosis and alcoholic hepatitis and ultimately died after a month due to multiorgan failure. Thanks to Nurse Amardeep for the extraordinary effects on his family, he died peacefully with his family by his bedside without subjecting him to further futile care such as CPR. The patient had previously requested to have his status changed to DNR/DNI during his hospital stay because he was not a transplant candidate and continued to have declining health status including liver and renal failure. Despite his wishes, his family felt he still wanted to be full code and thus he was intubated and received resuscitation with CPR during a code earlier during his stay. Multiple family meetings were held, and it was incredibly difficult for his wife to do anything but full care, including CPR. She spoke Punjabi primarily.

One night the patient's health continued to decline and was receiving maximum medical therapy, but he was still actively sick. The Team had a long conversation about his status, but his wife could not accept that he was dying and there was nothing left to do. Amardeep then spoke with the patient's wife in their language and explained that it was best for him to be made comfort care status as opposed to initiating CPR. Amardeep spoke to the wife for 2 hours trying to convince her to make him DNR and support her. She led prayer circles in their language at the bedside and provided immense emotional support for the patient's wife and son.

Without Amandeep’s help, the patient would have been subject to chest compressions and further futile care, but she helped ensure he died peacefully. She went above and beyond to support the patient and provided culturally competent compassionate care.