Karen Baltich has cared for this patient several times over the past year. With each admission, this nurse has remembered the patient’s special needs, having a history of autism and PTSD. This nurse has gone beyond measure to reassure and help the patient to feel more comfortable and encouraged her to advocate for her own needs. She has connected with the patient in a way that made her feel more like a person rather than a patient. On this particular admission, there was an incident where the patient’s call light malfunctioned, and she had to wait over 45 minutes for a response. This nurse had placed her phone extension on the communication board in the patient’s room, which allowed the patient to be able to contact her by phone. Once contacted, she immediately stopped what she had been doing and tended to the patient’s needs, explaining that this patient’s needs were as important as any other patient’s needs. When she learned that the patient had been having pain, this nurse almost started crying. She took it very personally that the technology had failed the patient. The patient explains that she began to have a ‘meltdown’ because of the combination of pain, her autism, and past trauma with needs not being met. This nurse took a long time to sit with the patient to reassure her, even offering her a hug to help the patient regulate better.
With every admission, this nurse has made this patient feel like she mattered—not just as a patient but as a person. She has given dignity in times of vulnerability, offered compassion when others didn’t, made jokes when her mood was low, gone above and beyond to support her pain management, accommodated her disability without making her feel guilty or silly for her needs, and helped her heal as a whole person rather than just heal medically.