I was the family member of a patient when I encountered Nurse Sharon Picou. My daughter was brought into the ED by the police for being intoxicated. A story or event that every parent prays will never happen to them. When we heard from our daughter, she had already been in the ED for several hours under the care of Sharon. We were not at the bedside to hold her while she cried but Sharon was. According to our daughter, Sharon was calm and very reassuring to her while she tried to piece the evening together. Our daughter kept saying she was a terrible person and that she had never done this before and all she wanted was to talk to her mom and dad. Sharon took the time in a busy ED and sat with our daughter while she cried and kept telling her that she was not a terrible person, this was just something she had done and did not define who she is as a person.
Sharon treated our daughter as a remarkable human being instead of labeling her as the "drunken patient". Sharon gave our daughter her phone so that she could call us, and she was crying so hard it was difficult to piece together what she was trying to say. Sharon took the phone and was supportive to me and let me know how our daughter was doing. She did not treat me like I was the parent of a drunken patient, but more like a parent who is concerned about their child.
When we came to pick our daughter up, Sharon came into the room and pulled the door closed for privacy and asked us if we had any questions. Our daughter was tearful and Sharon was sitting on the edge of the bed with our daughter letting her know that it was alright. As an RN myself, I was touched beyond belief. I know that an RN in the ED has a heavy assignment, but Sharon did not in any way ever let our daughter or us as parents feel as though she was too busy to give nurturing care. Sharon never labeled our daughter as to what she had done but took care of her as a regular person.
I relearned something during this experience, I need to remember that patients are human beings, not a diagnosis. It has now been three days since this happened, and I cannot get Sharon out of my head and how wonderful she was to our daughter. Sharon was there for our daughter when we couldn't be, and I will always have a great respect for her being the parent when I could not.