The 4th floor had a patient admitted who was very ill. He was elderly and very frail. His wife had early stage dementia and was wheelchair bound so was not able to visit very often as it was difficult for her and she depended on others to bring her to see her husband. As a result he had very few visitors during his stay.
The patient spent many weeks on the 4th floor and was eventually put on inpatient hospice care. One morning I arrived to work at 05:45 am and Jana McClendon was sitting and documenting in his room, holding his hand, and speaking to him. The lights were low and the care channel music was playing low. I spoke to Jana and asked her how the patient was doing as I assumed she was assigned to the patient. Jana said, " I am not assigned to him tonight but every chance I get I come to speak with him, hold his hand, and use the computer to document my patient rounds and care so that I can be there for him as I do not want him to die alone."
This was not just a onetime occurrence as I witnessed her on multiple occasions sitting with this patient, whether she was assigned to him or not. It brought tears to my eyes and touched my heart for the compassion, human touch, dignity, and caring she showed this patient at the end of his life. As it has been said, the patient will always remember the personal touch from the nurse more than anything else and even though towards the end of his life the patient became unresponsive, I do believe he felt Jana's presence at his bedside and her warm and caring hand as she held his hand and spoke to him.
There was a second patient on the 4th floor a month later, who had fallen and fractured her hip and her health declined and she was also put on inpatient hospice. Jana also sat and talked with this patient and held her hand even when Jana was not assigned to her.
This is who Jana is, a warm, caring, compassionate, and genuine nurse who is sincere and believes in the personal presence and human touch in caring for her patients.