I would like to recognize one of my peers, Miss Cecilia Phuong, for her outstanding contribution to the care of a recent patient on our unit. This patient, just before turning 18 this year, had been involved in a major car accident, which left her paralyzed from the neck down, requiring various forms of life support. This car accident, unfortunately, was the least of some of this young woman's trauma that she had experienced up to this point in her life. This patient had been a victim her entire life; abused by the majority of her family, which made building a trusting relationship very difficult and impossible for many of our staff.
While I work days and Cecilia works nights, I was very aware (as were many of my other peers) of Cecilia's approaches and successes with this patient. This individual would refuse care, "fire" staff, use very foul language, and simply shut down, completely ignoring caregivers across the different disciplines. For Cecilia, however, she was really able to connect with this patient and get her to communicate when all others had failed. Cecilia was effective at getting this patient to participate in her own care and understand her own feelings about what had happened to her, and where she was headed. Cecilia wrote goals, celebrated successes, developed coping strategies, and even created a wonderful poster for all the staff to sign before the patient left for rehab.
Two things have really stuck out for me when I examine Cecilia's role as a primary nurse in this patient's care. First, typically we need the most compassion when we act out the worst and deserve it the least. Cecilia showed utmost compassion and sympathy for someone who experienced life events so tragic, most of us could only imagine what this patient had been through. Second, Cecilia played a significant part in this patient transitioning through the stages of grief. I stopped by the day before this patient was to discharge. I spoke with her about how proud of her I was with the progress she had made and to keep going because I thought that in her lifetime, we would have the technology for her to walk again. She shared with me that she would definitely stop by to our unit in the future, but not walking. She would "roll in" with her decked out wheelchair painted with flames on its side. This statement showed me that she had reached the acceptance stage of grief and was ready to learn how to navigate the world as a quad. Cecilia was an instrumental part of this patient having a good outcome after a lifetime of tragic events. I am so glad that Cecilia didn't give up on her and is an example to us all for how far patience and compassion can really go.