I first met Mary Kate during the summer semester of my final nursing school clinicals. Mary Kate agreed to take me as her student, even though she herself had been a nurse for a little less than one year. We spent fifteen shifts together and during that time, I was privileged to witness empathetic, non-judgmental patient care at a level beyond any I had experienced before as a nursing student, care partner, or human being. No matter the age, background, or situation of any patient, Mary Kate was unbiased, attentive and remarkably caring of every single person in her care.
If a patient wanted to talk about their feelings and/or concerns, no matter the lengthy to-do list that we had to accomplish, Mary Kate would patiently listen. She employed exceptional therapeutic communication techniques to comfort patients and their families.
One specific moment that comes to mind is the grace and patience with which Mary Kate handled a specific patient, who I will refer to as Ms. X. Ms. X was a very challenging patient. She had a history of substance abuse. She pressed the call bell quite literally every five minutes for pain medicine, repositioning, and other various small things. Even though I take pride in my own ability to treat others with unwavering empathy, dignity, and respect, I could feel my own patience wearing thin. Mary Kate calmly and gently attended to every need this woman expressed. At the same time, she continuously promoted as much independence and self-care as possible. While others understandably expressed exasperation with this patient, including the patient's own family. Mary Kate would, without any hesitation, voice a gentle reminder to coworkers and the family that people aren't really their normal selves in the hospital.
When Ms. X was to be discharged to an outside rehabilitation center, there was an issue with transportation. Without any notice, the transporter called the patient to say he was at the hospital to pick her up. He threatened to leave without her if she was not downstairs in the ten minutes. The patient became reasonably distressed. Due to her mental and physical condition, preparation for discharge had already been an energy and time-consuming ordeal. The edict from the transporter added to her anxiety. Recognizing the potential for an unsafe and unsuccessful outcome, Mary Kate immediately dropped everything and personally brought the patient and her belongings downstairs to ensure the patient's transportation and safe transfer to the facility as planned.
I witnessed many examples of Mary Kate's exemplary empathy and unrelenting patience with her patients. She also employed every opportunity to assist her coworkers. Someone needed help re-positioning a patient, Mary Kate helped. A bed alarm was going off, even though it wasn't Mary Kate's patient, she ran to assist. On another occasion, another nurse was thirty minutes late coming onto her shift and Mary Kate had to stay longer in order to give a thorough handoff report. Mary Kate consistently displayed nothing but patience and understanding.
Mary Kate taught me far more than what can be marked off a nursing skills checklist; she reminded me that taking care of others, regardless of their story and background and despite their ability to appreciate or thank you, is one of the most important, beautiful things one human can do for another human.