November 2021
Mary
Thompson
,
RN
Med/Surg
PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center
Vancouver
,
WA
United States

 

 

 

Mary spent more than an hour and a half sitting with this patient, while she was the charge nurse and was caring for at least one other patient herself.
Mary was the charge RN of the Covid unit one night when we had a very particular patient. The patient was known to have refused care from multiple RNs and CNAs. After refusing care from the last RN available to care for her, Mary was asked to try. The patient was resistant but Mary spent more than an hour and a half sitting with this patient, while she was the charge nurse and was caring for at least one other patient herself. She was able to convince the patient that the interventions we were doing were life-saving and was able to get to the root of the problem which turned out to be fear. Mary could have tried and simply accepted and documented the patient's refusal of care, like many others before she had, but instead, she decided to get to the bottom of what was going on with this patient at an emotional level and changed the trajectory of the patient's hospitalization.

Note: This is Mary's 2nd DAISY Award!