Karla
April 2013
Karla
Mcintosh-Jarret
,
ASN, RN
Medical-Renal-Gerontology
Morristown Medical Center
Morristown
,
NJ
United States
Karla has been a nurse here in Morristown Medical Center for more than ten years and yet she has unfailingly maintained the gusto that every new nurse has, the need to make a difference in each of her patient's lives.
Karla demonstrated a significant impact on a particular case about three to four months ago. This was a case of SM, an 89 year old mother of an employee from another department. SM was admitted multiple times for chronic debilitating condition . This patient is sicker with each admission from this debilitating chronic disease. This patient has been in various units, coming in and out of RRT situations. Her only son, JB is has been in denial about his mother's situation. Staff members on J4 and on other units have attempted numerous times to speak to him about comfort care, but he has left without acknowledging her end of life status. He has advocated for multiple heroic attempts to prolong her life.
During SM's last admission, Karla, her primary care RN, was able to connect SM's son on a level that no one else had successfully achieved in the past. In several private discussions with JB, Karla was able to slowly open JB's eyes to the suffering that his mother experienced with each re-admission, each RRT, all of the medical testing she undergoes with each admission. Somehow, Karla's unfailing presence, empathy, and understanding convinced this man to place his mother on a program of palliative care and to forego aggressive heroic measures. She assisted him in realizing that there is no guilt when he follows his mother's end of life wishes. Palliative consult was facilitated without the resistance of the son, but rather allowed the son to be part of a continuum of life into death, allowing his mother SM to have a good death, a death that her living will clearly defined.
A few days after SM was placed on Palliative care, she passed away with the ease and comfort that she deserved. JB was at her bedside holding her hand. He often visits to let the staff know how he was doing and also to thank KJ for the compassionate care she provided for his mother and for himself.
Karla demonstrated a significant impact on a particular case about three to four months ago. This was a case of SM, an 89 year old mother of an employee from another department. SM was admitted multiple times for chronic debilitating condition . This patient is sicker with each admission from this debilitating chronic disease. This patient has been in various units, coming in and out of RRT situations. Her only son, JB is has been in denial about his mother's situation. Staff members on J4 and on other units have attempted numerous times to speak to him about comfort care, but he has left without acknowledging her end of life status. He has advocated for multiple heroic attempts to prolong her life.
During SM's last admission, Karla, her primary care RN, was able to connect SM's son on a level that no one else had successfully achieved in the past. In several private discussions with JB, Karla was able to slowly open JB's eyes to the suffering that his mother experienced with each re-admission, each RRT, all of the medical testing she undergoes with each admission. Somehow, Karla's unfailing presence, empathy, and understanding convinced this man to place his mother on a program of palliative care and to forego aggressive heroic measures. She assisted him in realizing that there is no guilt when he follows his mother's end of life wishes. Palliative consult was facilitated without the resistance of the son, but rather allowed the son to be part of a continuum of life into death, allowing his mother SM to have a good death, a death that her living will clearly defined.
A few days after SM was placed on Palliative care, she passed away with the ease and comfort that she deserved. JB was at her bedside holding her hand. He often visits to let the staff know how he was doing and also to thank KJ for the compassionate care she provided for his mother and for himself.