Sandra D Corbin
March 2024
Sandra D
Corbin
,
RN
ICU/OHU
Norton Audubon Hospital
Louisville
United States
One day, Sandy came in carrying a large tote of snacks. These were for me, as she knew I wouldn't be going home.
Where to begin?
Sandy is a great nurse as we all know. She is honest, trustworthy, very patient, and a mentor for the younger nurses, but those are not the qualities that prompted me to write this nomination.
In the beginning, it was the small things that she did, such as always calling him by name. It added such a personal touch. She addressed him instead of me unless he deferred to me, allowing him some say in his care. She learned his routine and adjusted her schedule around that. For instance, she knew he had trouble sleeping at night and would most likely still be asleep when she came in. She would make him her 2nd one to do handoff with to give him that little extra time. She knew when he was nauseated, a Popsicle would help when that was all he could eat. She would just bring in one without even asking. Once, when checking his pulses, she noted the dryness of his feet and legs. The next thing we know, she comes in with a special lotion that she knew helped someone before. One day, she came in carrying a large tote of snacks. These were for me, as she knew I wouldn't be going home.
The small things grew into even bigger things, such as upon one of his discharges, the MD wrote the wrong dose of a medication. When she questioned him, he said to just double up for a couple of days, then back to the prescribed dose. She realized that if we did that, we would run out of medicine before it was time for a refill, and the insurance would not give us more. After multiple paracenteses, it was determined that T needed to have a pleur-x drain placed before discharge. As soon as Sandy arrived that day, she placed a call to IR to let them know so they could schedule it as early as possible to not delay us getting out of there. At another discharge, it was determined that T would need to go home on IV Synthroid. Little did we know the hoops that she would have to jump through to make that happen, from home health to the IV infusion center to give me a lesson on giving IV meds at home. She also double-checked that I had all the supplies I would need to give it at home.
Towards the end, we decided on Hosparus care. When I called Sandy in to let her know, she informed me that we had an appointment with B from Hosparus that night at 6:30. She had already reached out to B as she had a suspicion that this was going to be the plan and had it set up just in case this is what we wanted in order for us to be able to get home sooner. Later that day, she came in and helped us do T's handprints for a project for our two grandsons, where they put their handprints over top of his.
On our last day (our final admission), when Sandy heard we were to be readmitted for pain control, she asked to give up her team on the front and come to the back in order to be able to take care of us one last time. She definitely met my goal of keeping him comfortable! The Care we received from Sandy and the whole ICU staff was unbelievable.
I have always said, "Sometimes we cannot change the outcome, but we can smooth the path to that outcome," and that is exactly what Sandy did. Sandy will always have a guardian angel watching over her.
Sandy is a great nurse as we all know. She is honest, trustworthy, very patient, and a mentor for the younger nurses, but those are not the qualities that prompted me to write this nomination.
In the beginning, it was the small things that she did, such as always calling him by name. It added such a personal touch. She addressed him instead of me unless he deferred to me, allowing him some say in his care. She learned his routine and adjusted her schedule around that. For instance, she knew he had trouble sleeping at night and would most likely still be asleep when she came in. She would make him her 2nd one to do handoff with to give him that little extra time. She knew when he was nauseated, a Popsicle would help when that was all he could eat. She would just bring in one without even asking. Once, when checking his pulses, she noted the dryness of his feet and legs. The next thing we know, she comes in with a special lotion that she knew helped someone before. One day, she came in carrying a large tote of snacks. These were for me, as she knew I wouldn't be going home.
The small things grew into even bigger things, such as upon one of his discharges, the MD wrote the wrong dose of a medication. When she questioned him, he said to just double up for a couple of days, then back to the prescribed dose. She realized that if we did that, we would run out of medicine before it was time for a refill, and the insurance would not give us more. After multiple paracenteses, it was determined that T needed to have a pleur-x drain placed before discharge. As soon as Sandy arrived that day, she placed a call to IR to let them know so they could schedule it as early as possible to not delay us getting out of there. At another discharge, it was determined that T would need to go home on IV Synthroid. Little did we know the hoops that she would have to jump through to make that happen, from home health to the IV infusion center to give me a lesson on giving IV meds at home. She also double-checked that I had all the supplies I would need to give it at home.
Towards the end, we decided on Hosparus care. When I called Sandy in to let her know, she informed me that we had an appointment with B from Hosparus that night at 6:30. She had already reached out to B as she had a suspicion that this was going to be the plan and had it set up just in case this is what we wanted in order for us to be able to get home sooner. Later that day, she came in and helped us do T's handprints for a project for our two grandsons, where they put their handprints over top of his.
On our last day (our final admission), when Sandy heard we were to be readmitted for pain control, she asked to give up her team on the front and come to the back in order to be able to take care of us one last time. She definitely met my goal of keeping him comfortable! The Care we received from Sandy and the whole ICU staff was unbelievable.
I have always said, "Sometimes we cannot change the outcome, but we can smooth the path to that outcome," and that is exactly what Sandy did. Sandy will always have a guardian angel watching over her.