Jordan Hise
December 2022
Jordan
Hise
,
BSN, RN
Burn ICU
UMC Health System
Lubbock
,
TX
United States
Jordan is new to the charge nurse role and has only been a nurse for about 18 months, yet she stood up and protected a patient in a way many seasoned nurses would not have.
A patient with mental health issues had been evaluated by psych to determine if he could make his medical decisions. The team decided he could, and the patient left against medical advice. Jordan was charging in Burn the evening the patient returned to the emergency room. He was admitted to the Burn Center to begin resuscitation. The surgical team decided the patient needed an operation to remove a portion of his lower extremity. The patient was not agreeable to the procedure. Jordan began expressing her concerns to the medical team.
Due to his history of schizophrenia, the team obtained consent from the daughter since it was reported she had medical decision-making authority over her father. The patient was taken to the operating room. Jordan remained uncomfortable with the decision because the patient was oriented to person, place, and time, and he understood the consequences of not having the surgery. Jordan called the daughter to obtain the legal paperwork. The daughter reported she did not have legal paperwork and had not begun the process of getting authority over her father.
Jordan immediately hung up the phone and called the surgical attending physician since she had already voiced her concerns through the proper chain of command. The patient had been intubated and moved to the operating table when Jordan called into the OR. She objectively voiced her concerns, and the procedure was faulted. The patient was extubated and brought back to the unit. The patient’s mental capacity waxed and waned throughout the stay, and his capacity to consent remained in question, but in the end, the daughter knew that respecting her father’s wishes was the best option. If it had not been for Jordan advocating for this patient, the daughter could have been forced to live with life-changing regrets. Jordan is new to the charge nurse role and has only been a nurse for about 18 months, yet she stood up and protected a patient in a way many seasoned nurses would not have. Jordan did almost everything she could to halt the procedure. The only option left was to physically run into the OR and dive on top of the patient in a dramatic fashion. Thankfully she did not have to resort to this, but nothing was going to stop her from doing just that if necessary.
Due to his history of schizophrenia, the team obtained consent from the daughter since it was reported she had medical decision-making authority over her father. The patient was taken to the operating room. Jordan remained uncomfortable with the decision because the patient was oriented to person, place, and time, and he understood the consequences of not having the surgery. Jordan called the daughter to obtain the legal paperwork. The daughter reported she did not have legal paperwork and had not begun the process of getting authority over her father.
Jordan immediately hung up the phone and called the surgical attending physician since she had already voiced her concerns through the proper chain of command. The patient had been intubated and moved to the operating table when Jordan called into the OR. She objectively voiced her concerns, and the procedure was faulted. The patient was extubated and brought back to the unit. The patient’s mental capacity waxed and waned throughout the stay, and his capacity to consent remained in question, but in the end, the daughter knew that respecting her father’s wishes was the best option. If it had not been for Jordan advocating for this patient, the daughter could have been forced to live with life-changing regrets. Jordan is new to the charge nurse role and has only been a nurse for about 18 months, yet she stood up and protected a patient in a way many seasoned nurses would not have. Jordan did almost everything she could to halt the procedure. The only option left was to physically run into the OR and dive on top of the patient in a dramatic fashion. Thankfully she did not have to resort to this, but nothing was going to stop her from doing just that if necessary.