Care Team for a Cornell 2 Patient at Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital
July 2021
Care Team for a Cornell 2 Patient
at Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital
Cornell 2
Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital
Charlottesville
,
VA
United States
Keith Martin, BSN, RN, MEDSURG-BC, Meredith White, BSN, RN, MEDSURG-BC, and Alexandra Williams, BSN, RN
| My two brothers and I would like to express our appreciation to the excellent staff who took care of our mother during the last two weeks of her life. She was an advanced dementia patient with a DNR and DNI who was brought by ambulance to Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital. She presented with a pulse of 150, a perforated appendix diagnosed by CAT scan, and a stage 3 decubitus wound on her sacrum. She was not a candidate for surgery and thus began Hospice. Mom passed away just two months shy of her 92nd birthday. There were three nurses who stood out to my brothers and me in our vigil at Mom’s bedside. All three displayed the highest levels of caring, compassion, and competence. Alex (Alexandra) had one night shift as Mom’s nurse and we found her to be friendly, calm, and constantly on the move. She was particularly efficient and on top of the medication and repositioning schedule. I went home to sleep with peace of mind because of what I witnessed in her attitude and work ethic. Keith had two day shifts as Mom’s nurse. He made certain we knew Mom was pre-medicated before any attempt to move her. He closed the window blind for privacy each time. To my knowledge, he was the first nurse who irrigated the large, deep bedsore on Mom’s sacrum. Keith then removed the trash bag with the smelly pads so that we weren’t breathing the smell of necrotic waste all day. Keith was in and out of Mom’s room frequently checking on things and clearly his head was always in the game. At the end of one of Keith’s shifts, I mentioned that the doctor said he would get me the bedsore dimensions. Keith immediately researched Mom’s chart and drew the dimensions on a pad for me. Meredith was Mom’s nurse for two days. She also did what Keith had done, including removing the trash from the room after irrigating the wound or changing dressings. She took the time to explain what she was observing and doing. Her calmness and clear intelligence made our mother's unnerved adult children relax. We wish now that we had kept a diary while sitting there so we could list all the staff who deserve our recognition and appreciation during one of the toughest times of our lives. We wish you all could have known our mom. She was beautiful inside and out. |