Dear Patient; Dear Doc, RN, Tech; I'm going to ask each of you to STOP for a moment in each of your propelling perceptions and realities for a moment and come with me to a different place. Another plane; Almost another dimension;
For this moment in time; Let's all join hands and step together into the crash room. Remember that room? Or have you lost yourself already back into your perception and reality? This is exactly why I ask you to walk with me, around the corner, down the hall and as we pull the curtain in the crash room, let's all introduce ourselves to compassion; Let's go from darkness to light; A place we can call on the goodness of all basic human nature; The greatest of these; is love.
As we begin our field trip together; I would stop at the corner of the nurses station here and point for you to notice, a man in his early forties, stretching his two arms as far around three children as he can possibly get them. A young teenage boy, eyes rimmed in red, maybe sixteen, won't make eye contact with staff, eyes shift downward, a nineteenish looking young teen girl, sandwiched between Daddy and brother, no emotion. Frozen, pale, unmoving. Time in her life changing so fast that tomorrow, she will not remember one thing that happened tonight. And standing in the dead center of all of them a boy of approximately six years of age. His eyes, hit you square in the head, he locks in and won't let go. He's too young for distrust, he is simply; scared; What he holds in his tiny body is faith. He believes with all of his heart, that every one of we nurses are the hero's of the world and our Doc's the leader of our hero world.
But there is a panic in this family that has not been addressed; Not because the ER Doc didn't care or the RN's didn't care but because our "caring" had to have a priority; The first of those is to save a life; But this does not negate in the equation that there is a heartache that has not been comforted. Faith that has not been given a drink of water. And we "care" GIVER'S. (Pay close attention to that word medical professionals, it's one we sometimes forget - and it should NEVER be FORGOTTEN.
One moment, this families wife/mother was simply having a headache and some stomach pain. One minute Mom was asking if she could have a Sprite and the next minute, a sea of scrub uniforms converged on her - speaking only to themselves in a foreign language that her family has not a chance to interpret - No permission is asked, no explanation is given. This time, perception and reality have collided into a truth that is called "Emergency." And the ER team is running her to a room where they have access to the equipment they will need to save her life; There is not time to focus on anything but this patient;
But in the ciaos there is one nurse who has managed to break away long enough to glance over her shoulder. The young boy catches her gaze and refuses to let this nurse give up on the stare. The nurse, realizing that Mom is now on life support, surrounded by a loving compassionate professional team; Safe; also realizes instantly that she must put the family on life support as well. The life support of the giving of the human spirit called compassion.
Walking toward the father, she motions he and his children toward a smaller private room. She notices that they move as a unit as she now puts a protective arm around their outer circle. As the nurse has each family member sit down, she drops to her knees so that she is on their level, and not talking above them. She looks at the father first, who finally, looks up, fighting back tears with the pride men typically display. The RN asks if they can ll put their hands together - to find strength in each other's warmth, trembling, humanness; And so they do. The little boy covers the nurses hand with his own, she cannot be sure who else had her hand in the circle but what she was sure of was that God was very present in the room with them.
Slowly, looking each family member in the eyes the nurse says: Please let me tell you a little about what is going on with your beautiful wife and your loving Momma. I know this must be pretty scary, seeing everyone with her all at one time and not understanding why we did that or why we moved her so rapidly - I know you are full of fear and I think I can help you put that fear in a better place. Your wife and Mom was pretty sick when she got here. We were watching her closely. You saw we'd started some IV lines to give her fluid into her body and we'd begun giving her medications to make her feel better; She was fine for a little bit but then her body lost control just a little bit and she needed us to help her gain back that control.
The RN explains that the bigger room while appearing much more "scary" is a room we use so because it is so big that it allows our whole team to be present to help at one time. We know it looks like so much is happening so very fast and it is; but the action we took does not mean that their wife/Momma is going to die. Not today, not in this place.
Before the RN can continue, the father begins to sob aloud. His pride and tension, fear released as he covers his face with his hands and his children follow in union. I too, as that RN, join in allowing my tears to fall to the ground. There are times, that tears must be shed, even by professionals;
Human caring beings. There is no deeper part of humanity than compassion. Empathy, the ability to literally "feel" what it must be like to be in that person or in that person's shoes. Taking the time to feel it all the way through. This "fix" was not a medical. It is not required of an RN but the good ones (and there are many) will let nothing get in their way when it's time to deliver compassionate loving care. RN's that take those emotional chances; feel pain. And Dear Patient, you are so worth it.
Together the RN and this family move as a "unit" back toward the room that just moments ago was frightening and over-whelming but this time appears more as a part of the team that just helped their wife and Momma, get better. They are encouraged to the bedside where yet another RN begins explaining the equipment and even though at this moment their wife and Momma cannot "speak" to them, she can smile and blink and she does; As one loving RN takes over care, another RN exits the room glancing back to see a family together in their "life changing" moment. The father, looks deeply into the RN's eyes and mouths the word "thank you." While those words are so appreciated, they are never necessary; this is what nursing is supposed to be about; Using your knowledge and talent to help save lives. Using your compassion to soothe souls..........that in itself, is a blessing.
And now, back to YOU. Dear Patient, I'm on my way! Has the reality of the field trip, changed your perception?
This is a way of seeing things that I hadn't thought of before
ReplyDelete