I am unsure where to start in recognizing a nurse like Sheryl. She has been a nurse longer than I have been alive. What really stands out to me is her compassion for our patients. Sheryl starts care teams for the long term, chronic infants we have on our unit. These children have complex, multifaceted medical issues, and can be emotionally challenging. She knows that these patients are looking at a long ICU course and she commits herself to caring for them every shift she's here. She takes the time to thoroughly understand their medical history, and advocates for them every shift. She treats these children like they are her own. She learns their likes and dislikes; she assists and facilitates daily schedules for her patients (when to nap, play, etc.). She works with the child life specialist to find developmentally appropriate activities for each patient. She takes the time to get these patients out of bed, regardless of the number of monitors and machines attached to the patient. The complexity and longevity of these patients can make them challenging for the most seasoned of nurses, but Sheryl happily cares for them! She celebrates their gains and grieves their setbacks.
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Sheryl works in an environment where often times caring for a patient is solely based on performing medical interventions and in-depth assessments that will keep a child just alive. That accountability gives her patients life but one aspect that is often put on the back burner is true compassion. Sheryl's type of compassion translates into love which gives her patients quality-of-life. Though she does this often, one particular example is currently happening.
There is a chronic ex-preemie who is trached and ventilated, gtubed, developmentally delayed, receiving all kinds of IV & gtube medications, and unfortunately practically abandoned due to psychosocial family aspects. This patient receives extraordinary nursing care around the clock. But when Sheryl is on shift this patient receives some serious TLC. She does the things that so many others say they don't have time for and I personally can say it is very time-consuming. She interacts with this infant to develop him mentally. I often see her just sitting in the room talking, singing, laughing, blowing kisses. She is one of the few who can get a smile out of this baby. She takes the time to get this patient out of bed and into age-appropriate play devices like a standing bouncer. This is not an easy task with all the wires and tubes. But is incredibly important to the development of this child who is usually just bed bound. And obviously, she does what all babies really want, to be held and cuddled. Again, not an easy quick thing to do with all the things attached to this patient and the workload of an ICU nurse.
It's a pretty remarkable site to see in the ICU. It surely makes life better for this child and for all the other ones Sheryl has nurtured.