Atul "Tony" Patel
October 2022
Atul "Tony"
Patel
,
RN, RN-BC
Medical Observation and Behavioral Health Holding
Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center
Charlotte
,
NC
United States
Tony’s heart of compassion goes beyond standard nursing care especially with our long-term intellectually disabled population.
Tony Patel is an outstanding nurse who shows compassion towards any patient no matter the situation or personal circumstance. He has a unique gift of humor that helps him relate to patients despite their background, culture, or age. Tony’s heart of compassion goes beyond standard nursing care especially with our long-term intellectually disabled population.
Our unit has these long-term patients from time to time who often are quite challenging to supply care for due to aggression, but Tony does not let the demanding situations stop him. He often connects with these patients to help them realize that their life circumstances do not define their future. One of our current long-term patients is a young 18-year-old gentleman who recently aged out of the foster system and is awaiting group home placement. This patient is quite challenging for the team to manage due to his extensive self-harming history and acting-out behaviors, but Tony’s persistence and positive attention has allowed him to build a rapport with this patient over time.
Tony is often found in this patient’s room sitting in a chair discussing life succession plans, supplying mock interviews, and helping this patient research places of employment once he is in his new group home. Tony often takes part in folding origami and learning Japanese with this patient and spends downtime walking with him in the hallway for exercise. By building a relationship with this patient and setting up rapport, Tony has recently been able to redirect this patient when he became physically aggressive with himself and the environment. Tony was able to swiftly de-escalate without incident as well as administer medications safely to aid in this patient’s healing and recovery process. If Tony would not have had an established rapport with this patient, he would have been able to physically harm himself further requiring restrictive intervention or medical attention. I am so thankful for a teammate like Tony Patel who provides comedic relief along with a great deal of compassion towards a challenging patient population. He is by far a compassionate nurse, supportive peer, and wonderful mentor.
Our unit has these long-term patients from time to time who often are quite challenging to supply care for due to aggression, but Tony does not let the demanding situations stop him. He often connects with these patients to help them realize that their life circumstances do not define their future. One of our current long-term patients is a young 18-year-old gentleman who recently aged out of the foster system and is awaiting group home placement. This patient is quite challenging for the team to manage due to his extensive self-harming history and acting-out behaviors, but Tony’s persistence and positive attention has allowed him to build a rapport with this patient over time.
Tony is often found in this patient’s room sitting in a chair discussing life succession plans, supplying mock interviews, and helping this patient research places of employment once he is in his new group home. Tony often takes part in folding origami and learning Japanese with this patient and spends downtime walking with him in the hallway for exercise. By building a relationship with this patient and setting up rapport, Tony has recently been able to redirect this patient when he became physically aggressive with himself and the environment. Tony was able to swiftly de-escalate without incident as well as administer medications safely to aid in this patient’s healing and recovery process. If Tony would not have had an established rapport with this patient, he would have been able to physically harm himself further requiring restrictive intervention or medical attention. I am so thankful for a teammate like Tony Patel who provides comedic relief along with a great deal of compassion towards a challenging patient population. He is by far a compassionate nurse, supportive peer, and wonderful mentor.