On a busy Tuesday morning, a family member introduced herself as a Trauma ER Nurse and explained her brother-in-law had been admitted to Winter Haven Hospital over the weekend and was concerned he wasn't receiving the proper care, treatment, or antibiotics. I was responsible for the bronchoscopy room this week and explained the family member's concerns to my co-worker, Amy Sweat, RN.
While I was in the procedure with the patient, Amy sat down with this family member and talked to her about her brother-in-law, her concerns with his care, and provided her with background information regarding the excellent physician placed on the case, and the normal chain of events that take place. The family member explained to Amy that due to her young daughter's recent hospitalization and scare with necrotizing pneumonia, she was not thinking too clearly and felt "left in the dark" regarding her brother-in-law's treatment.
Amy helped me recover the patient after the procedure, explaining the normal post-operative expectations to the patient and family member. Amy took it upon herself to contact the patient advocate in the hospital to ensure he was well taken care of and concerns were addressed once he left our department and returned to the floor.
The demeanor of this particular family member went from scared and concerned, to at ease, calm, and collected, and able to communicate information to the family members.
What may seem like a "small" act of kindness on Amy's part, changed the entire patient and family experience, not just of the Endoscopy Department, but the nursing unit, physician, and hospital as a whole. It would have been easy to chalk it up to "just the way things are", but Amy spent the extra time and effort into ensuring everything that was being done was correct and that the patient wasn't being overlooked or under cared for.