I would like to recognize Ashlee Taber. She did a phenomenal job in turning a patient's experience around.
A patient on PCU East was in an emotionally shocked state after having a discussion about her care with her physician. This patient was feeling terribly vulnerable and was in a state of shock.
Ashlee seemed to understand the patient's emotional reaction to such health information, all the time affirming and validating to the patient that she was in charge of making her own medical decisions.
Ashlee suggested to the patient that a plan needed to be made moving forward with her care and helped the patient to understand the procedures. Before making any decisions about care, the patient asked Ashlee to sketch out what the benefits were to having one procedure done over another and then to explain to her what were the consequences if she chose not to move forward with the physicians recommended plan. Ashlee kindly agreed, which helped to calm the patient.
Ashlee helped the patient understand her risks and did whatever she could to make the patient feel comfortable with her medical decision-making. When I mentioned what she had done to another nurse who knows her, she said, "that is just how Ashlee is; she is great with patients".