On Monday, I was assigned to a very ill patient. Not too far into my shift, the family made the decision to withdraw care of their child. I had never had a withdrawal of care patient or a patient pass away. I was anxious about saying the wrong thing to the family or not performing the proper tasks in such a situation. Taylor was my TL, and I told him that this would be my first withdrawal and patient death. He immediately proceeded to assess my current emotional status, to make sure I felt okay, and to offer me a second to step away if needed. He walked me through what the process was going to look like and what my roles and responsibilities as the bedside nurse would be.

What Taylor also offered to me that shift was not something I was expecting; he went into detail about how to have hard, emotional, compassionate discussions with the family. He taught me how he approached empowering a parent to hold their child as support was withdrawn, to acknowledge the love that was in the room as all the family members stood around the parents and child, and to check in on individual family members who were having difficulty being there. Following Taylor’s lead, I spoke with many family members who were present in the room that day, asking about the emotions they were feeling, helping to teach them the importance of what they were feeling and the love that it represented. I watched Taylor speak to a pre-teen boy in the room, teaching him the importance of sharing what you are feeling with those around you and not keeping any emotions hidden. Everything I learned from Taylor that day I will take forward with me. He taught me how to be a better nurse and even a better human that day because Taylor himself is an unparalleled nurse and human being.