February 2018
Rebecca
Totzke
,
MSN
Med/Surg
UPMC Hamot
Erie
,
PA
United States
We had a patient on 4 MRIU (Medical Respiratory Intermediate Unit) that wasn't from the best background and appeared to be from a lower economic class. Upon admitting him to the floor I was told in report that he had a STEMI and passed out at home and was brought into the ED by EMS on New Year's Eve. Apparently, the patient's wife had left him in the ED to go to a New Year's Eve Party.
The patient was eventually trached and pegged and in the ICU's and other floors for over a month. The patient's wife would come in every day to see the patient. Nurses weren't always happy because the wife would be "tipsy" and only stay a few minutes and sometimes upset the, patient-but the nurses remained professional. Well the patient, even though dealt a rough hand, worked very hard with me to be able to get better and go home. He worked hard in PT/OT. He worked with me on how to administer meds through his peg tube.
Well, one night he seemed upset and wrote on his paper that "something is wrong," his wife hadn't come in for 4 days. This was odd. I said I would try to call her. I called all the numbers he gave me but no answer. The next shift I came in and he wrote that they found his wife dead on the floor at home. She had laid there for 3 days. I felt so bad for him. He told me the viewing was Saturday and he was sad he couldn't go. I called the social worker and said is there any way we can get him to that viewing. I said I was willing to come in and take him. I ended up being off for a couple of days.
When I came in that Saturday morning, he told me that the social worker had worked out arrangements so that he could go. Becky Totzke came in on her day off, without pay to take him. Not only did she give of her time, but she also brought him nice clothes to go in. The look on the patient's face was of pure gratefulness. Becky accompanied the patient in the wheelchair van with Emergycare to the funeral, stayed at the funeral with the patient, then went with him via Emergycare again to Health-South where he was set up to transfer to that day. Becky is always going above and beyond the call of duty on the floor. She is caring to the point that she makes the rest of us look bad! Always going out of her way to do what's best for patients.
The patient was eventually trached and pegged and in the ICU's and other floors for over a month. The patient's wife would come in every day to see the patient. Nurses weren't always happy because the wife would be "tipsy" and only stay a few minutes and sometimes upset the, patient-but the nurses remained professional. Well the patient, even though dealt a rough hand, worked very hard with me to be able to get better and go home. He worked hard in PT/OT. He worked with me on how to administer meds through his peg tube.
Well, one night he seemed upset and wrote on his paper that "something is wrong," his wife hadn't come in for 4 days. This was odd. I said I would try to call her. I called all the numbers he gave me but no answer. The next shift I came in and he wrote that they found his wife dead on the floor at home. She had laid there for 3 days. I felt so bad for him. He told me the viewing was Saturday and he was sad he couldn't go. I called the social worker and said is there any way we can get him to that viewing. I said I was willing to come in and take him. I ended up being off for a couple of days.
When I came in that Saturday morning, he told me that the social worker had worked out arrangements so that he could go. Becky Totzke came in on her day off, without pay to take him. Not only did she give of her time, but she also brought him nice clothes to go in. The look on the patient's face was of pure gratefulness. Becky accompanied the patient in the wheelchair van with Emergycare to the funeral, stayed at the funeral with the patient, then went with him via Emergycare again to Health-South where he was set up to transfer to that day. Becky is always going above and beyond the call of duty on the floor. She is caring to the point that she makes the rest of us look bad! Always going out of her way to do what's best for patients.