Darcy had two scenarios this past summer (2019) in which she displayed extreme caring and empathy during end-of-life situations with her patients and their families.
During the first situation, she had a young woman who was essentially healthy and came in for elective shoulder surgery. Post-operatively, she coded and was brought to the ICU. Darcy quickly stabilized her and was getting ready to admit another patient when she coded again, and again and again. This day also happened to be the patient's birthday. While Darcy continued to revive her, she also kept the family updated and cared and spoke to the patient as if she was her own family. Even in this critical time, Darcy explained to the patient what was happening and encouraged her to pull through. Unfortunately, the patient did not survive, but Darcy and the team were able to keep her alive until past midnight, so she did not pass away on her own birthday.
In the second scenario, we had an ECMO patient who had been on our unit for several weeks. During this entire time, the patient's 19-year-old daughter stayed with the patient in her room. The daughter was from out of town and rarely left the room. Darcy (as well as several other nurses) cared for the patient and knew the daughter well. During the patient's stay, Darcy helped facilitate getting the daughter regular showers. She also let the daughter participate in the care of her mother. Sadly, the patient eventually became so sick the daughter and physicians decided withdrawing care was the best option. Lots of family from out of town came in and the patient expired peacefully with them by her side, After her death, the patient's daughter asked if she could help the nurses prepare the patient's body to go to the morgue. This task is not typically done with the family present, let alone helping, and it can be less desirable to see depending on the patient's prior issues. Despite knowing this process would take much longer and be more tedious with the daughter present and participating, Darcy and her partner RN agreed and took the time to make sure the daughter got to spend those last moments with her mother, tending to her and cleaning up the body, the last chance she would ever have to truly touch and spend time with her mother.
What I think is the best and hardest part of both of these stories is Darcy's emotion. They were both trying situations and Darcy was able to be empathetic but also vulnerable and share tears with the families.