I am a 3MESG registered nurse taking care of a patient with a significant pressure ulcer. The patient is a wheelchair-bound paraplegic that has been on the unit for several months as the treatment team tries to help heal the wound and treat her infection. The barrier that comes between healing and treatment is the patient's psychological behaviors. Each day, the patient's behaviors became much worse. The patient was angry, agitated, depressed, refusing medications and treatment because she was fixated on calling her friends. With the assistance and guidance from Stacy, I saw significant improvement in behaviors during my 12-hour shift experience.
Stacy came in the morning to place a wound vac on the patient. Stacy explained to me that she had to be calm, but firm to the patient in order to have things done. Stacy was an advocate to have the patient moving and collaborated with 3MESG RN and CNS. The goal was to have the patient go outside and take a coffee break or lunch with Stacy. In turn, the patient would have to cooperate with treatment. Later that morning, the patient became agitated, again, and pulled out her wound vac. The patient stated, "I want to speak to Stacy; she is the only one that understands me." Stacy was called and immediately came up to the room willingly to mediate with the patient. She was firm, understanding, and explained the goal of going outside for a walk later if she had good behaviors. The patient agreed.
Come 4:30 PM and the patient was excited to go outside. Stacy was very patient, empathetic, and connected with the patient on a one-to-one level. Stacy made silly jokes and opened up about herself to relate to the patient. I held the wound vac as Stacy walked beside the patient to the outside garden and gazebo. It was a humid, but pleasant sunset along the horizon. The patient spoke about a few things to the RN's and at times sat in silence. We sat for about 30 minutes and went back to the patient's room. The patient stated that she did not eat anything the whole day and would like to eat some cheeseburgers and fries from McDonald's. Stacy went out of her way after work to get the patient what she wanted. The patient was very grateful and states "I had such a fun day today out with you guys." The patient could not stop saying thank you.
Taking care of this patient for 12 hours, her behaviors drastically changed to becoming a pleasant cooperative person. With the help of Stacy and many others, we were able to collaborate and accomplish small steps to getting the patient a better treatment plan. As a newer nurse in the field, I have never been more inspired and proud to work alongside a wonderful registered nurse like Stacy. Although Stacy had a job to do in wound care, she also spent hours outside of her work to come help this patient in need of a friend, someone to trust.