April's patient was severely confused, as a result of long-standing dementia. She was very anxious, had already pulled out several IV's and was constantly removing vital cardiac monitoring equipment. She needed constant attention and the help of multiple staff members to keep her from harming herself any further by getting out of bed unattended. Multiple attempts at reorientation by me and the patient's primary nurse only worked for brief periods of time. It is all too easy to become frustrated with patients such as this one but April never lets her personal feelings interfere with her ability to provide top-notch, personalized, considerate care. She spent many hours with this patient throughout our night shift, repositioning, talking, feeding and reorienting her. Still, this was not enough to keep the patient safe.
April drew from her many years of experience and called around to other units looking for a teddy bear or baby doll for this patient hoping this would distract the patient from her many lines and tubes. The pediatric ED sent us up a small stuffed bear, which April took to the patient. As soon as she saw it her face lit up and she began tucking it into the bed with her and talking to it. This provided the patient with enough of a distraction to leave her cardiac monitor and IV's alone. Eventually, she calmed down enough to get some much-needed sleep. Thanks to April's compassionate care, more restrictive and potentially detrimental, methods (i.e. restraints, sedatives) were avoided and the patient remained safe and calm for the rest of the night.