In the CVICU, we are fortunate that our patients often have short stays within our unit. It is rare that we get a long-term patient; due to this, many of us are not fully prepared to deal with the rigorous requirements of the LTAC patient.
In this case, a patient's total number of days in our unit was 80+ days. Jeffery Manikham was this patient's caregiver for more than 35 of those nights. As this patient's condition grew more chronic, many of us burned out and experienced compassion fatigue, asking to be removed from the care of this patient. Jeffery persisted. He was very friendly with the patient, showing reverence to the patient, his family, and his condition.
Integrity: Jeffery did what was needed to be done to ensure this patient had the best care he could provide.
Compassion: He was always genuinely concerned with the well-being of this patient.
Excellence: Jeffery spent 35+ days as the caregiver of this patient and on more than one occasion, he kept this patient alive and stable. The patient has passed recently after a long-complicated path. On speaking with Jeffery, he once again showed reverence, integrity, compassion, and excellence in speaking of the patient's passing.
He'd walk into this patient's room every time he worked regardless of his assignment and say, "How you doin' in here, boss?" Didn't matter if the patient remembered him or not, he persisted.