Judith Jones
June 2022
Judith
Jones
,
RN
5A Med Intermediate Care
WakeMed Health & Hospitals
Raleigh
,
NC
United States

 

 

 

Judy was determined to find help for this patient.
While assessing her patient, Judith noted the young woman was seemingly depressed. As she sat and spoke with her, Judith learned the patient was originally from El Salvador, resided in the U.S. for many years, and worked for the school system. Currently, however, she was unemployed and uninsured. The patient told Judy she had a surgical procedure in El Salvador earlier and experienced a complication that resulted in her being unable to control her bladder, resulting in continuous bladder leakage. The patient was upset, even stating she “didn’t want to live like this anymore”, and couldn’t find anyone to do the surgery due to being uninsured. Judy reached out to her manager for suggestions as she felt there had to be something we could do for this patient. Judy was instructed to call and request a Urology consult. She took an additional step and reached out to the Urology PA about the situation to see if anything else could be done. She was determined to find help for this patient. A consult was placed and she was seen by the team. The team determined she had a fistula that needed to be repaired and the surgery was scheduled for June. During nurse leader rounds, the manager learned the surgery was rescheduled for May and the patient was profusely thankful. Had Judy not taken the time to listen to this patient, and act on what she learned, this patient may have been discharged without a follow-up plan in place. Thank you Judy for being a true patient advocate.