Jennifer Cosolaro
May 2018
Jennifer
Cosolaro
,
RN, LPN
Inpatient Behavioral Health
Newton Medical Center
Newton
,
NJ
United States
Jennifer goes above and beyond her everyday duties as a nurse on our unit, continuously caring for all patients as if they are members of her family. Working with a psychiatric population is certainly not an easy task, but it comes naturally to Jen.
One instance that I would like to highlight was when we had a patient on the unit who was bedbound. Our unit is generally occupied by ambulatory patients, however, every once in a while we care for a patient that for one reason or another is not able to get out of bed. This can pose a challenge for our nurses as we do not have aides on our unit and our acuity is often very high, so caring for patients of this nature can be very difficult.
This particular patient was on our unit for approximately one month, and he would often become frustrated due to the fact that he could not participate in unit activities or move about the unit freely. Every time Jennifer worked, she made it a point to talk to him and she could always get him to smile and laugh. The patient needed his linens changed and personal cleaning multiple times per day, and even if Jennifer was not his assigned nurse she would never hesitate to don a pair of gloves whenever he needed to be changed. Without fail, she would be right at his bedside lending a helping hand. Since the patient was unable to ambulate, he was obviously not able to shower on our unit. One day, Jennifer came into work and stated matter-of-factly that she was going to give the patient a complete head-to-toe bath. She stayed in his room with the patient for over an hour, gently and meticulously washing him until every inch was fresh and clean. It was the most thorough bed bath I have ever seen to date in my nursing career. When Jennifer was finished, the patient had a smile on his face from ear to ear. It was not difficult to recognize that he must have felt like a million bucks after she was done with him.
That patient has since left our unit, but Jennifer continues to impart the same kindness and compassion upon every patient she comes into contact with. Our unit (and the entire hospital) is a better place for all of us because she is a part of it.
One instance that I would like to highlight was when we had a patient on the unit who was bedbound. Our unit is generally occupied by ambulatory patients, however, every once in a while we care for a patient that for one reason or another is not able to get out of bed. This can pose a challenge for our nurses as we do not have aides on our unit and our acuity is often very high, so caring for patients of this nature can be very difficult.
This particular patient was on our unit for approximately one month, and he would often become frustrated due to the fact that he could not participate in unit activities or move about the unit freely. Every time Jennifer worked, she made it a point to talk to him and she could always get him to smile and laugh. The patient needed his linens changed and personal cleaning multiple times per day, and even if Jennifer was not his assigned nurse she would never hesitate to don a pair of gloves whenever he needed to be changed. Without fail, she would be right at his bedside lending a helping hand. Since the patient was unable to ambulate, he was obviously not able to shower on our unit. One day, Jennifer came into work and stated matter-of-factly that she was going to give the patient a complete head-to-toe bath. She stayed in his room with the patient for over an hour, gently and meticulously washing him until every inch was fresh and clean. It was the most thorough bed bath I have ever seen to date in my nursing career. When Jennifer was finished, the patient had a smile on his face from ear to ear. It was not difficult to recognize that he must have felt like a million bucks after she was done with him.
That patient has since left our unit, but Jennifer continues to impart the same kindness and compassion upon every patient she comes into contact with. Our unit (and the entire hospital) is a better place for all of us because she is a part of it.