We have had some very challenging patients, families and situations as of late. Autumn has stepped up to the plate and really excelled as a nurse. Autumn is a CVVH nurse and therefore takes on the more complex patients. Autumn took a very challenging patient for a few weeks. She watched him start off as talking and interacting with the nurses to being intubated. He was on continuous dialysis, and was going to be worked up for a liver transplant. The patient's wife was a very calm and caring woman. They had three children and she spent most of her time here with her husband. There were numerous family issues that were occurring outside of the hospital, which Autumn kept under control, allowing them to have time to be with the patient yet respecting the wife's privacy. Autumn was the support and sounding board the wife needed to keep her grounded during this very taxing time.
The patient was eventually extubated and able to interact more with the family. The patient's condition started to decline, and Autumn had the perfect opportunity to bring him down to the Healing Garden to see his children, whom he had not seen in a few weeks. It would turn out to be the last time he would see his family. Taking the time when her dialysis machine went down to coordinate his wife going home, getting the children and bringing them back to the hospital so they could see their father for what would be the last time. He was awake and communicating with them, which is the last memory they will have of their father. It takes a special kind of nurse to have the compassion, caring and true reflection of nursing to support this type of multi-faceted patient and family care.