May 2020
Amber
Wilson
,
RN
Med Surg
Piedmont Walton Hospital
Monroe
,
GA
United States
Amber came in for her shift on MST and volunteered to take the COVID-19 patients for her unit. We had multiple COVID-19 and she was willing to take them all for the day and let that be her assignment. For her 12 hours, she would have to don and doff her PPE and care for the sickest patients on the unit. She started her shift knowing that one of the patients was a DNR/DNI but he was somewhat stable.
A couple of hours into her 12-hour shift, one of her patients started having obvious breathing issues and needed to be transferred to ICU for intubation. The patient was placed on BiPAP and sent to the ER to be an ICU hold. During the same time, her DNR/DNI patient had been placed on the highest amount of oxygen that could be given without utilizing mechanical ventilation or BiPAP.
Amber called and spoke with the family about the patient's progress and asked them to come to visit. The wife had seen the patient for a short time but decided that staying and/or seeing her husband like this was something she could not do. The nurse tried the daughter and she respectfully declined the offer to come to be with her dad. The nurse knew that she would be this man's family for the whole day.
Meanwhile, another patient had to be placed on BiPAP making her patient assignment very heavy. As she continued on, her patient continued to deteriorate and show signs of pain. The nurse was emotional as she struggled to meet his pain needs and know that he was near the end of life. She spent hours in his room at a time watching him struggle for air and try to calm him.
At one point, almost 2 pm, she broke down in tears when asked if we could do anything for her. She had not stopped for lunch because she didn't want to leave her patient's side. After a brief break, Amber went back to her patient's side. Her patient did pass later that night, but I know he felt the love and compassion that she showed. We have many nurses that do an excellent job caring for our patients but the genuine compassion and kindness that Amber showed this patient was truly touching.
A couple of hours into her 12-hour shift, one of her patients started having obvious breathing issues and needed to be transferred to ICU for intubation. The patient was placed on BiPAP and sent to the ER to be an ICU hold. During the same time, her DNR/DNI patient had been placed on the highest amount of oxygen that could be given without utilizing mechanical ventilation or BiPAP.
Amber called and spoke with the family about the patient's progress and asked them to come to visit. The wife had seen the patient for a short time but decided that staying and/or seeing her husband like this was something she could not do. The nurse tried the daughter and she respectfully declined the offer to come to be with her dad. The nurse knew that she would be this man's family for the whole day.
Meanwhile, another patient had to be placed on BiPAP making her patient assignment very heavy. As she continued on, her patient continued to deteriorate and show signs of pain. The nurse was emotional as she struggled to meet his pain needs and know that he was near the end of life. She spent hours in his room at a time watching him struggle for air and try to calm him.
At one point, almost 2 pm, she broke down in tears when asked if we could do anything for her. She had not stopped for lunch because she didn't want to leave her patient's side. After a brief break, Amber went back to her patient's side. Her patient did pass later that night, but I know he felt the love and compassion that she showed. We have many nurses that do an excellent job caring for our patients but the genuine compassion and kindness that Amber showed this patient was truly touching.