Isela Campos
December 2020
Isela
Campos
,
RN
Emergency Department
Parkland Health & Hospital System

 

 

 

Isela spent the time getting the right people involved to care for the patient as a whole and was able to get the provider to convince the patient to consent to surgery to save his vision.
I would be remiss if I did not take the opportunity to recognize the hard work and compassion of Isela Campos. Isela assumed care of a patient that was assaulted overnight, brought here by DPD, and was awaiting ophthalmology/face consult as doctors were anticipating admission for eye surgery. Isela received a handoff that the patient did not speak English nor Spanish but K'iche', an uncommon Mayan dialect of Guatemala.
However, the 9-year-old daughter at the bedside spoke Spanish and K'iche' and this was how the patient was communicating with nurses and providers overnight. Isela immediately recognized this barrier to the patient's care and knew we could not rely on the daughter's interpretation of medical knowledge. This was a huge burden for a child to carry. Isela worked patiently alongside interpreting services attempting to understand which Mayan dialect the patient needed and got the appropriate interpreter (per interpreting services there are only 4 in the nation!)
Isela was eager to know how or if the 9-year-old daughter's involvement in was in her father's assault, assess the patient's level of understanding of his condition, and ensure the patient was agreeable to the plan of care which included securing childcare arrangements. When the interpreter was finally secured, Isela ensured that VIP and SW were also present to discuss the above concerns. Isela had a staff member sit with the daughter to color while she conducted a multidisciplinary assessment.
On assessment, the father had left the daughter sleeping at home to run to the store where he was jumped by 4 men when he would not follow their English commands. Went back home, called 911 and PD transported the pair to the Emergency Department. We also learned the pair had immigrated here with an uncle and with a rigid daily routine did not rely on or receive assistance from anyone nor did they have family or friends here. The patient did not feel comfortable leaving his daughter with the uncle since he worked all day, and the daughter would cry saying she was uncomfortable staying with him.
Isela involved management early to alert the NAO and ED/inpatient VP about the patient's plan of care and his lack of childcare. The patient was initially very hesitant to build rapport with Isela and was insistent that he was fine since the pain was gone. She could see how uncomfortable the patient was with all the services involved (VIP/SW/Mgmt) questioning/assessment and saw he was being dismissive of his own health needs to protect and tend to his daughter. Isela spent the time getting the right people involved to care for the patient as a whole and was able to get the provider to convince the patient to consent to surgery to save his vision. Leadership made the decision to allow the daughter to go upstairs with the patient so he would not have to worry. Isela truly deserves to be recognized for her demonstration of Parkland CIRCLES.