The mark of a great nurse is not only helping to mend the body but also the heart and the soul. This is a quality that can’t be taught, which makes the impact all the more meaningful. It can be tough for some nursing staff to take care of a person as a whole when they present with a challenging attitude, resistance to compromise, and constant thanklessness.

I’d like to recognize Jerry McCall for always being authentically present for his patients regardless of their demeanor. On the burn unit, we have a patient who came in with a 63% TBSA burn and has been on our unit for 120 days and counting. He has become increasingly difficult to care for due to his length of stay, extensive dressing changes, pain management issues, and multiple family-dynamic traumas this hospital stay has presented. In all these weeks, I had never seen this patient smile or laugh. He would say thank you one minute and the next would be firing a nurse for being 5 minutes late with his pain meds. The week the staff noticed a dramatic shift in his resistant, defensive attitude came shortly after Jerry was his nurse for a few shifts. This patient was joking around with us, playing music during his dressing changes, becoming less demanding with his call light, and more understanding with short staffing challenges. During a dressing change, we noted this shift to the patient and asked where the change of heart had come from. The patient said, “Jerry changed my perspective.” He continued to explain the conversation that Jerry had had with him. He said, “Jerry told me, ‘I know you’re going through a really rough time, and it probably feels like you have no one, but WE are your family right now.’ He continued, “Jerry’s comment changed my view of the staff as just an authority over me. He helped me realize how much all of you have done for me and made me want to treat you guys better.” In that same breath, the patient opened up to us further and explained why he had been treating us so callously, why he had been so angry and hurting so badly, and the reasons broke my heart.

Jerry was able to look past his challenging attitude and addressed his hurt and went beyond the surface, which is something a lot of the burn staff had trouble doing due to feeling burnt out. Not only did Jerry’s work hold weight in the patient’s heart, but it also held weight in mine. I was reminded that at the end of the day, we truly are the family that patients have to hold on to during their tough times, and these times can invite a cascade of traumas to the surface. I was reminded that burnout should never become an obstacle or excuse that keeps us from forgetting how important our interactions with patients are. Jerry makes quite an impact on every patient he encounters, but this particular situation impacted the patient so much so that the other staff members reaped the benefits of Jerry’s exceptional nursing care. Jerry has been a nurse at this hospital for many years and I'm sure he has felt burnout more than most of us, yet it is evident he never allows those feelings to warp his heart and affect his nursing care. We are tremendously lucky to have a nurse like Jerry to work alongside who truly views everyone like family and goes the distance to understand and tend to people’s hearts.