Jessica Comstock
April 2013
Jessica
Comstock
,
BSN, RN
Medical-Surgical
Baptist Health Louisville
Louisville
,
KY
United States

 

 

 

Recently, we had a middle aged patient with the mental cognition of a 5 year old. Her mother was not at the bedside and the patient was crying and very scared. The patient had a baby doll with her at all times for security and treated the doll as a real baby and wanted everyone to do so as well. Jessica was having a horrible day and had a very high acuity patient load. The patient was terrified of all nursing staff and would cry upon entry to the room. Rather than get frustrated with the patient, Jessica took a long time, explaining to her everything that was to happen to her. A doctor came in and ordered around ten tests to be performed in a multitude of separate testing areas. Although Jessica was very busy she spent close to an hour calling every area explaining the patient's situation and to speak to her in a way she could understand and to treat her doll as a real baby and when removing the doll from the patient's arms, to hold it in the correct way as to not upset the patient. Jessica also explained to the test areas not to let anything happen to the doll as it was a very important belonging to the patient. Jessica spent a lot of time reassuring the patient and putting her at ease- Jessica is a true patient advocate. By the time all the tests were over, rather than cry when Jessica entered the room as before, the patient was pleased to see her showing that Jessica had completely put her at ease and made her feel safe rather than scared. I think Jessica has an empathetic healers touch, and is very deserving of the DAISY Award.