A patient came up late in the day for a procedure. Kendra was one of the nurses that was going to be in the procedure room with him. Once in the room, Kendra had asked the patient if he had any family waiting in the waiting room. He started to get teary-eyed and stated that he had been in the ED all day and forgot his phone. Kendra asked why he came into the ED, and upon further investigation, she found out that he had been at Apple Hill to get some tests done. The patient had been transported via ambulance to WellSpan York Hospital. So not only was he without his cellphone, which he had left at home, but now his car was at Apple Hill. He then went on to say he was worried that if he had to be admitted, no one would be able to be with him. Kendra decided to look in the patient's chart and noticed that his daughter was listed. She asked the patient if it was okay if she contacted his daughter. Kendra explained to the daughter that her dad was at WellSpan York Hospital undergoing an EGD procedure due to his blood count being low. She explained the procedure to the daughter and told her that the doctor performing the procedure would call her as soon as he was done with the procedure. Kendra also explained the visitor policy and told her that the patient’s car was still at Apple Hill.
Kendra then called Apple Hill security because the patient was worried his car would be towed. Kendra was able to provide a description of the car and where it was located and was informed it would not be towed. When the patient woke up, he wanted to speak with his daughter and Kendra made that possible by providing her phone for him to make that call.
Kendra gave this man what no one else had, and that was contact with his daughter. Before the patient left the GI lab, he had successfully spoken with his daughter and knew his car would not be towed. After the patient left, I overheard Kendra speaking with another RN stating that if she hadn't asked about his family, who knows when someone would have. Kendra also mentioned that there was a close call in the procedure room and if she had not asked about family, she would never have known his family didn't know he was at York Hospital. It was amazing to be able to see Kendra go out of her way to help the patient, who had no contact with anyone since he had gotten to the hospital early in the morning. It was something else being able to witness this firsthand and I aspire to be more like Kendra when it comes to going the extra mile and getting to know patients.