Vicki
Reedus
May 2012
Vicki
Reedus
,
RN, BSN
Cardiac Catheterization Lab
Providence Queen of the Valley Medical Center
Napa
,
CA
United States
Photo: Paula Willems RN, Vicki Reedus RN, Stephanie Hayes RN, Teresa McKee RN
This story was told to me by an RN on 2North, Cristina Baldia, who gave permission to use her name. Cristina is a fairly new RN (2 years), very bright, compassionate, competent nurse. She had just finished her DOU training, and it was her second day practicing solo on the Direct Observation Unit. She had a heavy assignment, which included a critically ill, septic patient. Two nurses from the Cardiac Catheterization Lab, Vicki Reedus and Jill Aris, came to place a PICC line in this patient, after which they commented on how bad he looked, asked what was wrong with him, and made note of the fact that he was mottled, and may be showering clot throughout his body, and clearly looked like an end-of-life patient. They asked if the doctor had been notified.
At this point, Cristina, who was already feeling overwhelmed, told them that they had been trying everything: antibiotics, anti-fungals, many different treatments, etc. and said “No matter what we do, we can’t make him better. He is just getting worse.” She also knew from earlier interactions that day that his wife of many years had been going through all of this as well. Tears welled up in Cristina’s eyes, as she thought she was overlooking something.
The point that Cristina would like to focus on is that, shortly after they left, Vicki and Jill came back, and sat down with her in the Huddle Room. Cristina said, “They could see that I was upset, and they didn’t want to seem like they were being critical of me. Vicki offered me words of encouragement, emphasized that I was a great nurse, and said that there are times when patients just die in spite of our best efforts. They both shared stories of themselves as new nurses: feeling inadequate, fearing that they had or will make the wrong decisions, etc.” After talking, they then hugged.
What struck Cristina the most about this most sacred encounter was the nurse-to-nurse interaction, and the empathy shown to her. She said that she will never forget the kindness shown to her.
I feel that Vicki is most worthy of this award for her compassion toward her fellow nurse.
This story was told to me by an RN on 2North, Cristina Baldia, who gave permission to use her name. Cristina is a fairly new RN (2 years), very bright, compassionate, competent nurse. She had just finished her DOU training, and it was her second day practicing solo on the Direct Observation Unit. She had a heavy assignment, which included a critically ill, septic patient. Two nurses from the Cardiac Catheterization Lab, Vicki Reedus and Jill Aris, came to place a PICC line in this patient, after which they commented on how bad he looked, asked what was wrong with him, and made note of the fact that he was mottled, and may be showering clot throughout his body, and clearly looked like an end-of-life patient. They asked if the doctor had been notified.
At this point, Cristina, who was already feeling overwhelmed, told them that they had been trying everything: antibiotics, anti-fungals, many different treatments, etc. and said “No matter what we do, we can’t make him better. He is just getting worse.” She also knew from earlier interactions that day that his wife of many years had been going through all of this as well. Tears welled up in Cristina’s eyes, as she thought she was overlooking something.
The point that Cristina would like to focus on is that, shortly after they left, Vicki and Jill came back, and sat down with her in the Huddle Room. Cristina said, “They could see that I was upset, and they didn’t want to seem like they were being critical of me. Vicki offered me words of encouragement, emphasized that I was a great nurse, and said that there are times when patients just die in spite of our best efforts. They both shared stories of themselves as new nurses: feeling inadequate, fearing that they had or will make the wrong decisions, etc.” After talking, they then hugged.
What struck Cristina the most about this most sacred encounter was the nurse-to-nurse interaction, and the empathy shown to her. She said that she will never forget the kindness shown to her.
I feel that Vicki is most worthy of this award for her compassion toward her fellow nurse.