We watched Brittany provide the most incredible care for a patient and their family this past week. The patient had COVID and had decompensated extremely quickly in the prior 24 hours, which was very traumatic for the patient's sister and children.
Brittany cared expertly for her patient, but we were most amazed by how she communicated with the family and the support she showed them during one of the scariest and hardest moments of their lives. She helped them get in and out of PPE 10+ times over the course of her shift, so they could spend time with their mom/sister while also needing to come out and take breaks due to the emotional nature of the situation. She put out multiple calls to spiritual services to have them visit and provide prayer, and she went out of her way to collect fingerprinting and picture materials so the family could have some keepsakes of their loved one.
One extra special thing Brittany did was reach out to the on-call social worker and the PICU to gather resources for the family because the patient had a young child who was really struggling with his mother's critical illness. Brittany ended up getting multiple children's books and pamphlets about understanding grief in children, as well as some forget-me-not flower seeds for them to plant as a way to remember their loved one.
Brittany went way above and beyond what was expected of her and made sure to be present with the family during the patient's final moments. She developed such a therapeutic relationship with them, and we feel honored to have witnessed her compassionate care. We are so proud to be her co-workers.