Brittany Dorsey
August 2021
Brittany
Dorsey
,
BSN, RN
Wound Ostomy Team
Ochsner Medical Center - Main Campus New Orleans
New Orleans
,
LA
United States
Brittany’s compassion and sincerity to uphold the patients’ wishes to be independent shines every day.
Brittany Dorsey is an amazing nurse who has so much care in her heart to give to patients. She transferred from the hospital oncology unit to join our Wound and Ostomy Team. She was a “rookie” to wound and ostomy care but she studied long and hard to gain all the knowledge needed and then some, in just a few months. It was a joy to precept such a wonderful nurse and there are so many stories I could share that would paint the picture of her extreme compassion and talent but let me tell you of this one extraordinary event that reminds me of a movie I once saw- “50 First Dates” aka “50 First Ostomy Lessons.”
Brittany received an ostomy consult to teach a patient to be independent with her ostomy care once discharged. Now imagine an alert, oriented elderly patient who appeared very receptive to Brittany’s daily teaching but who unfortunately retained none of the lessons and demonstrations. Every day, Brittany respectively visited the patient to review the lesson and even though the patient participated, gave feedback, and was interactive...the next day, the patient had no recollection of anything discussed from the day prior. The patient even told the doctors that no one had come to teach her about her ostomy care. Brittany expressed her concern in regard to the patient’s memory status, but the patient had no other memory issues with anything else during this time.
Brittany never gave up and continued with her “50 First Ostomy Lessons”...day after day, until one day, it finally just “clicked” and the patient retained all that she needed to provide her own independent ostomy care. It was a very happy day indeed for all and a very happy ending to the movie “50 First Ostomy Lessons”. To this day, the patient still calls Brittany every now and then and is very grateful that Brittany didn’t give up on her. Imagine the raw energy it takes to continue to repeat an ostomy lesson day after day, for an otherwise, known independent and coherent patient, over and over, all during the pandemic stress and fatigue. Brittany’s compassion and sincerity to uphold the patients’ wishes to be independent shines every day.
Brittany received an ostomy consult to teach a patient to be independent with her ostomy care once discharged. Now imagine an alert, oriented elderly patient who appeared very receptive to Brittany’s daily teaching but who unfortunately retained none of the lessons and demonstrations. Every day, Brittany respectively visited the patient to review the lesson and even though the patient participated, gave feedback, and was interactive...the next day, the patient had no recollection of anything discussed from the day prior. The patient even told the doctors that no one had come to teach her about her ostomy care. Brittany expressed her concern in regard to the patient’s memory status, but the patient had no other memory issues with anything else during this time.
Brittany never gave up and continued with her “50 First Ostomy Lessons”...day after day, until one day, it finally just “clicked” and the patient retained all that she needed to provide her own independent ostomy care. It was a very happy day indeed for all and a very happy ending to the movie “50 First Ostomy Lessons”. To this day, the patient still calls Brittany every now and then and is very grateful that Brittany didn’t give up on her. Imagine the raw energy it takes to continue to repeat an ostomy lesson day after day, for an otherwise, known independent and coherent patient, over and over, all during the pandemic stress and fatigue. Brittany’s compassion and sincerity to uphold the patients’ wishes to be independent shines every day.