Reflections
Reflecting on Compassionate Care By Suzanne Dort
During the second semester in my nursing program , I was on a medical-surgical floor . Despite not being allowed to do much at the time , I was eager to stay busy . When I saw that a call light was on , I volunteered to check on the patient . I was expecting to find someone who wanted a glass of water or help ambulating to the bathroom since those were the type of requests I had been getting throughout the day . Instead , I was surprised to find a patient writhing in bed and moaning , a look of pain on her face . I was shocked to see someone is so much distress . When I asked how I could help her , she quickly replied that she needed her pain med . She managed to say that she had already asked once , but a long time had passed and she hadn ’ t gotten any pain medication . I reassured her that I would find her nurse , but first I needed to know what her pain level was and where it hurt .
I rushed out of the room and almost bumped into her nurse who was just rounding the corner . “ Lucy ,” I exclaimed , “ the patient in room 28 says she has 10 / 10 abdominal pain and needs her pain med .” I heard another nurse nearby chuckle and say , “ Oh , yeah . Room 28 . She always knows when it ’ s time for meds . She ’ s right on schedule !” Lucy smiled , and then looked at me , “ Thanks for letting me know . I ’ m on my way to get her meds now .” With that , she disappeared .
I sat down and felt a little bit silly for taking this patient so seriously . Obviously , she could talk to me , so she must not have been in that much pain , I reasoned to myself . The other nurses must think that she is exaggerating , a patient who just wants attention or maybe even one who is addicted to meds . I was confident that I had acted appropriately : I had asked about the patient ’ s pain , delivered the message to her nurse in Data / Action / Response ( DAR ) format , and was certain that an intervention was coming . I figured that since everything was covered , I could get back to my paperwork .
This is one of those scenarios that play again and again in my mind , hinting that there was something that I could have done differently otherwise I wouldn ’ t still be thinking about it . After honest reflection , I realized that I had let the patient and myself down . I did exactly what I swore I would never do once I become a nurse , I treated her as a task and not as a person .
Let me tell you why I chose to go into nursing . When I was 18 years old , I was in the hospital for 10 days following scoliosis surgery . A day after surgery , while I was still in excruciating pain , I was so overwhelmed with being in the hospital , the new scar that ran the length of my back , and the helplessness of not even being able to walk to the bathroom by myself , that I became nasty and angry at my visiting family . I snapped at every kind gesture or comment they made . Everyone has their limit , so after an hour or so , my family decided that maybe it was time for them to go home and they left . There I was , all alone in the hospital , in so much pain , unable to do any of the things I used to , and feeling so guilty for pushing away my family , that I started bawling .
My nurse just happened to pop in to check on me and saw me crying . She didn ’ t say anything , she just swooped in and put her arms around me and rocked me until I calmed down . She didn ’ t ask me why I was crying . She didn ’ t offer to leave me alone . She showed me compassion and kindness . That was more than 15 years ago , and I still get teary-eyed when I think of the compassion this stranger showed me when I was literally at my most vulnerable . I ’ m sure she was busy and had more pressing things to do , but for those 10 minutes , she made me feel like the most loved person in the world .
I had an opportunity to show the same type of kindness to a person , and I didn ’ t act on it . That person was not my patient , and so I didn ’ t know her health history or perform any assessments . But I did know that she had surgery , was in an unfamiliar setting , was alone in the room without family or social support , and stated that she was in pain . At that moment , she needed some type of comfort . I should have marched right back in the patient ’ s room , told her the medication was on the way , and used human touch , even if it was just laying my hand on her shoulder , to show her that I was there , I heard her , and I care . •
Suzanne Dort is currently a student nurse at Tidewater Community College and concurrent program at Old Dominion University , Norfolk , VA .
43