Darci answered the main OR phone line early in the morning. The patient called and stated that she was scheduled for a LEEP procedure and needed to cancel the procedure. Darcie asked why, simply to place the rationale in Epic for the cancellation. The patient was very upset on the phone and began to have an argument with her husband about coming to the hospital for the procedure. Her husband kept reiterating the importance of the patient having the procedure and having their home life coordinated to accommodate her having surgery today. The patient was very distraught and kept saying, "I don't have time to do it. The kids are fighting, and I cannot do it."

Darcie sat on the phone and just listened. When a patient is scheduled for a LEEP procedure, 99% of the time, it is due to abnormal cells being detected during a PAP smear. She stated to the patient, "Why don't you think about it for a little bit. I will not cancel you yet. You can call me back. You still have an hour before coming in." The patient continued with, "I just can't do it." She and her husband started having a heated discussion again. Darcie told the patient, "If someone is scheduled for this procedure, it usually means to help detect abnormal cells. I do not know your full situation, but it sounds like you need this procedure done. This may be the time that you need to care for yourself and have this done." Her husband was in the background and reiterated the same, and was trying to calm the patient down. The patient said, "I do need it done because it is to see how advanced my cancer is." The patient then stated that she would come in, "but I do not want any family in my room. I cannot deal with them today." Darcie told her that this was not an issue and reiterated this to the charge RN, who put a note in the patient's chart.

Later that morning, the charge RN came to Darcie's office, asking for lunch tickets. The charge RN stated that the department had a family with 3 children, and the husband couldn’t afford lunch. Darcie went out to talk to the family and delivered the lunch tickets. It was the family of the patient that wanted to cancel her surgery. While Darcie spoke with the family at length, she reiterated how glad she was to see the patient. Her husband was at the patient's side, comforting her. This family had to bring in all 3 children due to the one child needing observation, and the other 2 children had chronic illnesses and could not afford lunch for everyone. They were living paycheck to paycheck. The patient stated, "I deal with extreme anxiety, and I was having a panic attack this morning, due to scheduled surgery, etc. Thank you for listening to me and encouraging me to come for my procedure. Also, thank you for meeting the needs of my family, for it helped me to be comfortable and know that they were taken care of."