We would like to recognize our fellow nurse, Max, for her empathetic and respectful care of a complicated patient. Max's action shows her foundational practice to connect to her patients and do simple actions to make them feel "normal" in very not normal circumstances.
We have a patient who has been with us for 2+ weeks. It is unknown who brought this woman to the ER, but they left her with just her bags and limited identifying information. She was confused, disoriented and very scared. Within a couple of hours of admission to the floor, she was a Code Bert, attempting to leave the floor and unable to communicate, as she is Creole-speaking only. Our patient was too confused to use the blue phone and became unwilling to interact with many of our team members as only 1 of our nurses and 2 of our PCTs speak Creole.
Cue Max. Max met our patient when she was attempting to leave the unit, in a confused state. Max managed to calm her and direct her back into her room. She assisted in translating to the rest of the care team, as she brushed and styled the patient's hair. Throughout the following weeks, Max would check on our patient even if she was not primarily assigned. The patient's mentation and agitation slowly improved, and Max would continue to assist in assessments and communication, and of course, styling her hair. During these interactions, our patient would frequently complain about the food. She barely ate the first few days with us, and eventually picked at food but clearly did not have an appetite for it. One Sunday, on her day off, Max came to 9C1 with containers of food. Max had purchased (LOTS) of Haitian foods for our patient because she wanted to make sure our patient ate and enjoyed food from her culture.
The patient's gratitude for Max could only be matched by our appreciation for Max as a part of our 9C1 team. Max's simple and thoughtful actions exemplify why she is a true DAISY Nurse.