What's the nicest thing a patient has done for you?

Sally_ICURN · Jan 8, 2003

About 8 months after I started my first nursing job, I was walking down a corridor of my hospital heading to my unit to attend a class. I was in civies, not my scrubs and my hair was down (I have long hair that I tie back when I work). As I was walking a woman was walking toward me from the other direction. When we got close, she said, "Sally?" I said yes. She said do you remember me? She proceeded to tell me her name and that if it weren't for my concern and care for her during the most vulnerable and scary time of her life, that she didn't think she could have made it. I immediately remembered her (she was one of my very first patients after my preceptor cut me loose). She had a mitral valve repair at age 42 and when her husband found out she was sick, he couldn't deal with it and left her and her two small children (during her hospitalization!) She was an athlete and told me she was back on her bike and planning to ride in a race very soon!

Anyway, we hugged and continued in opposite directions down the corridor. I was so impressed that she recognized me completely out of context. I will never forget her. As a new nurse, it really shook me that we so profoundly affect the lives of others.

I also received an awesome gift from another nurse who was from another hospital in my area. I took care of her on her first post-op cardiac surgery night. It was VERY sweet!

~Sally :cool:

CardioTrans, BSN, RN · Jan 8, 2003

Where to start.......... Doing home care and ICU (peds and adults) I have so many great memories of patients...........

In peds ICU....... I had a little girl who had abdominal surgery who gave me a card for taking such good care of HER MOM while she was sick........ the little girl was 7

In home care I had a little boy who had a lung infection....was getting IV antbx tid.......... well I was the one who got to see him cuz I had peds exp......... after his therapy was over......... he (his Mom) had a present sent to my office......... in it was a card he signed thanking me for taking care of him that he had signed....... in the box was a dreamsicle angel with a bandage on his arm pulling his teddy bear in a wagon..........he was 3

In Heart Transplant ICU....... patients writing letters to my supv thankin me for the care........ and sending little goodie baskets to me.........

In home care.......... patients giving me christmas presents, fresh tomatoes from their garden....... some would slip things in my nursing bag while was out of the room because they knew that I couldnt legally take anything from them....... so they would sneak it in my bag for me to find later

The one from home care that stands out the most at the moment is when I was pregnant with my youngest son.......I had a pt that I had seen twice a wk for what seemed like forever........ when he found out I was in the hosp having the baby...... he sent a dozen long stem red roses to my hosp room.......saying congrats.......cant wait to see pictures.

Nursing is rewarding in so many ways other than seeing a patient discharged from the hospital or from home care. You truly touch lives and dont even realize it at times because we are so caught up in worrying about whats gonna happen next. These little things always make it worth the headache.

duckie · Jan 8, 2003

I have had so many special things happen since I became a nurse 22+ years ago, but just the other day, I was looking through my "memory box" and I found a hand written note from a 12 year old girl I cared for as a nursing student. She poured out her heart to me and told me she loved me because I helped her not to be afraid during her lengthy hospital stay. Through my years I have collected many momentos of love and kindness, been left in wills, but the most precious of all are the hugs and kisses I get everynight from my residents. They make me feel like a million bucks when they whisper, "I love you" as I kiss them goodnight. To me, that's what it's all about.

fab4fan · Jan 8, 2003

I had a pt. I cared for when I worked home care hospice. Her dau got me a beautiful hanging plant when I passed my CRNH exam.

Another hospice pt I cared for was a fairly conservative Mennonite. At the funeral, his wife took me around and introduced me to everyone, told me they had grown to consider me a daughter. Then she started crying and said, "In my heart, I know you're a Mennonite." You have to understand that this is a major compliment for them.

klhs · Jan 8, 2003

I have 2 very special gifts that were given to me while I was working in LTC. The first one is a handblown glass angel Christmas ornament and the second is a Betty Boop Nurse coffee mug. These items may not be worth material wise... but when I think about how much those residents have enriched my life with sweet memories, advice, love, and blessings untold, I remember why I became a nurse.

cactus wren · Jan 8, 2003

It was a patients sister in law...It was New Years Eve, and patient was holding her own, intubated,sedated, very ill, and had been for some time. SIL and I were chatting, and talk switched to food...and after she found out that i hadn`t had any posole( In NM it`s like Hoppin John or blac eyed peas, for good luck in next year)...SIL had friend who owned Mexican restaurent,she called friend( this took place like at 11pm) and got the friend to deliver a huge bowl to ICU for moi....

Another patients wife gave me a lovely procelin baby doll that she had made, after we chatted about dolls....sleeps on my bed every day...

Favorite is a blue rose made from a seashell that the DH of a dying patient brought me after she had passed....

DIPLOMATICRN4HIRE, MSN, RN · Jan 8, 2003

A Patient that I became very close with sent me the Book Chicken Soup for the Nurses soul. He said that he wanted to make sure I laughed as much as I made him laugh. I did I have read the book many times. I still keep up with him.

Zoe

Robin61970 · Jan 8, 2003

Well....I am a starting nursing student so this would not be a patient, but from a fellow student. In A&P II there were many who struggled and I would bring in my cousins video camera and tape the labs, make a copy, and put it in th AV lab for others to copy so they could study. She saw me last week and gave me a oversized coffee mug that has stars on it(look like shooting stars and it says dream, believe, achieve and a remembrance stone. It is a rock, but carved into it are the words "nurture". She said that without the tapes I took the time to make she could not have made it through A&P and it was really a nice feeling that I helped her.....wanted to share mine......

sunnygirl272 · Jan 8, 2003

oh..almost forgot..had a hospice patient with ALS....ugh, so sad....anyway, after her passing, her sister, who was devoutly catholic, sent me a thank you card, and a thing saying she had submitted me to some convent for a years supply or prayers....very touching, because this was such a strong portionof her belierf system...

semstr · Jan 8, 2003

go home.

Stargazer · Jan 8, 2003

Originally posted by semstr
go home.

:rotfl:

hapeewendy · Jan 8, 2003

Originally posted by semstr
go home.

Well thats nice and touching and all but you forgot the most important part....

go home ... and not come back!

haha jk!

I've been blessed enough to take care of some truly fantastic people who have said and done some wonderful things for me. That is why I'm still where I am, for those patients

a few ones stick out

was taking care of a man and we just got along famously , between him and his roomate in the next bed I was all set, talk about stress free assignment, it sounds so hokey but its true it was a joy to take care of these 2. Anyway the first guy , upon discharge, got his wife to go get me a gift basket with hand lotions and special soaps (he had overheard me complaining to someone about the sad state of my dry hands ) , then the second patient, the one I got along so well with, got me a #1nurse keychain with my name engraved on it, he said that it would come in handy when I was going home after a bad day , to open the door and see that I really am making a difference in peoples lives.

lovely thank you letter from a patients daughter expressing that she had never met someone like me before and that I allowed her father to pass away with dignity and for her to deal with her grief successfully, that meant a lot because initially when I was dealing with palliative patients or death I dont feel I did so very well.

truth be told that the nice things that have been said to me outnumber any gifts...you know somedays are really good days :)