Our child was born with a congenital kidney condition and preemie. He started his few months of life in NICU and since then we had the opportunity to interact with all kinds of health professionals. Simply put, we had seen it all: the good, the bad, and the ugly. We have a good understanding of what good health care is, given the fact that we have a health professional background. In the last seven months alone, our child was admitted to a hospital twice for a total of three weeks including ICU stays. During his hospital stays, we had an opportunity to interact with multiple health professionals including nurses. The nurses at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) are very professional and we would like to thank them all for their service. Among the nurses we encountered, Ann Colebaugh, who stands out among her colleagues.
We would like to recognize the following traits in Ann. Communication: Ann's communication skills with children is a notch above most others. For instance, she takes her time, be humorous and serious at the same time and convinced our child in more than one instance. We have seen this when our child refused to take his medication and did not want to do something painful e.g. walking after his surgery.
Listening: Ann is a very attentive listener. For instance, when our kid complains of pain all nurses listen and do what is required, be it to give him pain medication or notify the respective physician. Ann takes her time and asks him how intense the pain is, where it is, tell him what she is going to do next, let him tell her if he did not get better after some time and come back and check him. Her listening capacity has made our child open up to her more than any of the other health professional, including the doctors.
Going beyond what is expected: Our child has a very difficult vein. It has been frustrating to see a new IV-line setup every day, a few times twice a day. One day, the nurse on duty told us that his IV line was blocked and a new one needed to be set. A new IV-line was set that morning and we were very unhappy. Fortunately, Ann suddenly passed by our room to say hi. When we told her the situation, she called the nurse on duty, took her time, and checked if the line worked, which it did. The IV line was working, and she explained to the other nurse what she should have done. It was a great relief to us given our child had multiple injections that day.
Staying late: Another day, another nurse had some difficulty to set up the IV pump and she was frustrated. It was also the end of the shift. Passing by our room, Ann noticed the situation and helped the nurse out. As a result, she stayed an extra hour late. It was winter and cold. Most people would simply rush home or suggest calling an IV nurse. She stayed an extra and went home late that day. That is something beyond what is expected of her.
Challenging our child: Our child was very reluctant to walk after surgery. He said no to all of us, including the nurse. Ann took her time and convinced him to walk. She walked him around the block. It was painful but our child got his confidence back and it helped in his improvement. It meant a lot to us, seeing our child walk again. Our child liked Ann and she was the only person he gave a hug to. The liking was mutual. Thank you, Ann, for all that you did for us and our son.