Peggy Sims
March 2023
Peggy
Sims
,
RN
Nursing Resource Team
Univeristy of MS Medical Center
Jackson
,
MS
United States

 

 

 

Empathy and compassion are what Peggy showed this patient. She spent a ton of time gaining the patient's trust.
One night Peggy was pulled from her original assignment of 2 West to go to 5 Wiser.  She took a patient from each nurse on 5 Wiser that night.  One of those patients was a young woman who had experienced some major traumatic events since the delivery of her baby a month prior.  When Peggy first met this patient she was upset, angry, and weary.  

Peggy spent a good deal of time assuring the patient that she was indeed going to have a good and peaceful night.  Peggy gave her the plan for the shift and encouraged her to do as much for herself as possible. That it would certainly help her heal and get back to her new baby and life.  As the shift continued, Peggy made sure that the patient's needs were met in a timely manner.  She encouraged her for doing tasks on her own with very minimal assistance. She hugged Peggy the next morning when the day shift nurse was making bedside rounds and really thanked her for being kind and caring.  

Peggy also spoke with the provider that morning to let her know that she was very concerned for the patient's mental wellness as she had not seen her baby since birth.  Her family was unable to come and stay during her hospitalization due to work and other obligations, this caused her to feel all alone. She also had a lot of medical concerns that were weighing heavy on her.  Peggy wanted her to have some medications to help with her panic attacks as well as for psych to see her for depression.  Also, if someone could help get her baby here and her other child so she could just see them, that would lift her spirits.  

As I am writing this, I can not help by thinking about our Communicate with Heart class.  Empathy and compassion are what Peggy showed this patient.  She spent a ton of time gaining the patient's trust.  Peggy told me when we were talking that she really felt that it was a God thing that her assignment was changed so that she could take care of that particular patient.  I just wanted to share this example of compassionate care and give Peggy a huge shout-out for being a huge patient advocate and for having the patient's overall well-being as a priority.  Peggy, you my dear, you are a ROCKSTAR!!