Nurses Print Patients’ Final Heartbeat for Loved Ones

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

What a creative way to have a final memory of a loved one. Especially during these COVID times with limited bedside visiting...

Found article in NJSNA email newsletter:

Nurses Print Patients' Final Heartbeat for Loved Ones

Quote

...It's been somewhat of a tradition for South Shore Hospital critical care nurses to give a small printout of a patient's last electrocardiogram reading to relatives and friends who are at the hospital. Michelle Peterson, a critical care nurse, said they typically put the small piece of a paper inside a vial used to draw blood....

Peterson said she was training a new nurse over the Summer and showed her how she would print out the strips of paper for families. The new nurse said she had small glass vials with cork tops at home that would be perfect to hold the paper, so she brought them in. The nurses then added heart-shaped charms and a tag that read, "My heart is with you always.”...

Peterson said the keepsakes soon became commonplace, and the hospital starting buying the supplies for nurses to make them.

"It's been really well-received and the family members usually burst into tears and are very happy. It's been really nice,” she said. "It's the one thing that gets them to smile in a difficult moment.”...