Throughout school, nurses are taught that they are to be a "patient advocate". The definition of advocate is "to speak, argue or plead on the behalf of another". Laura embodied this definition one night. A patient was incredibly ill, suffering from an incurable ailment. He was in pain and his blood pressure was dropping to dangerous levels. He turned down pain medication despite his agony because he didn't want his blood pressure to drop anymore. Although his English was minimal, he looked up at Laura and said, "Please, I don't want to die tonight." Laura followed the proper channels, eventually calling a critical response and getting a physician assistant and doctor to the bedside.
They did not want to intervene, saying the patient was terminally ill…he is a DNR…He has known this was coming…moving him to ICU and putting him on pressors will not stop his disease…but Laura advocated for him, "If he wants us to treat this, that is his right! If he wants to keep fighting, that is his right!" She did not back down to others in deciding the fate of her patient. She questioned authority. She knew her patient's wishes better than any other decision maker there. She knew his desire to go on living and truly was his voice when he couldn't convey this for himself.
Laura taught me and more importantly, the new RN residents on our unit, what it really means to be a patient advocate.