christine mackay, RN, BSN

I was in the Access Center for a 24-hour shift and Nurse Christine Mackay was on with me. We had a patient in Access 2, who was here overnight waiting for a bed, but quite psychotic, and appearing afraid and distressed. A bed finally became available for this patient at Catskill, and she would not get onto the stretcher, appearing afraid. When I saw her, she appeared scared, psychotic, and very difficult to explain anything to. We called the ED Clinical Nurse Supervisor and offered her PO medication which she refused. Security was present and if she continued to refuse, we would have had to possibly give her IM medication. Nurse Chris said, "no wait, let me try". I clearly told her "Chris, she isn't getting it, she's psychotic". Nurse Chris then proceeded to sit on the stretcher and show the patient, "see, sit like this". She then spoke to the patient extremely compassionately and with a lot of patience and kindness. The patient started to cry and with Nurse Chris sitting next to her, laid down on the stretcher. Chris spoke to her and despite a very busy ER and Access Center, took the time out with her to be kind, compassionate and patient. To me, this was really exemplary and demonstrated extreme empathy and exemplified the qualities of an excellent nurse.