I am a firm believer in the saying, "everything happens for a reason." As a nurse myself, I also believe that you can't learn everything from a book, but by listening to your heart and following your gut feelings - also known as "nursing intuition."
As a nurse of 10 years, my current role is a lead resource nurse for the COVID Screening tables. On this particular Sunday morning, I was rounding to the main entrance screening tables when Bailey had stopped me. She was trying to help a young, distressed woman coming to visit her brother. Bailey had the patient's EPIC chart open, and it revealed that the patient was, "deceased." The young woman kept on repeating to us both, in-between tears, "I don't know why I'm here? He had passed away in December, and I just walked here to try and visit him."
Bailey and I brought the patient over to a quiet waiting area to talk. She revealed that this was her, "big brother," that she used to live with, and wanted to "come visit him," knowing that he was no longer alive. She again began breaking down, saying, "I don't know why I am here? I don't want to be here." Bailey immediately asked the young woman to elaborate on what she had meant by this. The woman then said, "I don't want to be alive anymore." Bailey then reached out to place her hand on the woman's shoulder and told her, "My name is Bailey, and I am a nurse here. Your life is very important to me, and I am going to help you." She reassured the woman that she is in good hands, and that, "everything is going to be ok."
She walked the woman to the ER and gave another nurse a private report about the woman's situation. While waiting for a bay assignment, Bailey continued to talk with the woman further to find out that she currently lived with her mother and had not been home since the previous day. She had walked herself to the hospital and had not taken her anxiety/depression medication since the day prior.
As the young woman was being brought back to her ER room, Bailey continued to remind her, "It will all be OK, I am glad you are here."
In talking with Bailey on our return walk back to the main hospital, I had found out that Bailey is a new nurse to SKLM, and that she never actually had the opportunity to do floor nursing yet, as she had an injury that prevented her to be acclimated to the unit. Since that time, she has been a COVID screener for our hospital. I am beyond impressed with this young nurse's actions that indefinitely saved a life this morning. She immediately recognized that this young woman was in trouble, and when asking some questions, trusted her gut feelings, and followed where her heart took her. This young woman needed not only a shoulder to cry on this morning, but a compassionate nurse who read her body language, and recognized the gravity of how troubled she was to help her receive emergent, life-saving help.
Unfortunately, we all may at times become busy throughout our day and not take the time to sit down with a patient/family member who is troubled to really find out what is on their mind. As a nurse, it's not about taking care of the physical, but the whole being - which is what Bailey did. While some may have just told the young woman that her, "brother was not here," Bailey assessed the situation further and found out that the patient was suicidal. There is a reason that this patient had decided to walk to St. Luke's Medical Center this morning and ask Nurse Bailey for help. Bailey was in the right place, at the right time, and proceeded to make sure this young woman was not going to leave our facility before receiving the care and attention she desperately needed.
I am beyond proud of Bailey for her incredible nursing efforts today, and for how professionally and compassionately she had handled this situation. You can't learn compassion through a textbook, and in learning Bailey is a newer RN, her rapport and de-escalation of this critical situation proved years of expertise beyond what her license states.
Thank you, Nurse Bailey, for all your hard work, and for truly saving a life today. You have forever made a difference in this young woman's life and helped her to realize how special and important her life was, and even furthermore, reminded her of how important her life was to YOU. Your patients throughout your career will never forget the kindness and compassion you will implement throughout your nursing care, and I thank you for exemplifying what it means to be an excellent nurse and role model for our profession.
Should you ever feel a day in your career, which you will, that you will question why you ever went into this profession or question whether or not you've made a difference in someone's life, I want you to remember this day and this young woman. YOU made a difference.