Brittany L Lewis
September 2024
Brittany L
Lewis
,
BSN, RN, CV-BC
Advanced Heart Failure and Heart Transplant
Ochsner Medical Center-New Orleans
New Orleans
,
LA
United States
The day the patient passed at home, he called the clinic and expressed gratitude for helping him throughout his VAD journey and helping him go home to be surrounded by his big, loving family while he was transitioning.
Brittany is a VAD Coordinator who has a special interest in Palliative Care. Brittany has always worked closely with patients to complete their advanced care planning and is always willing to have those difficult conversations with patients, but recently, she went above and beyond for a patient and his family. Brittany had worked with a VAD patient since they were implanted in 2019 and had followed the patient closely for years. Over the last year, the patient's health took a turn, and he started losing the ability to care for himself, resulting in multiple inpatient admissions. He was recently admitted after a pretty debilitating car accident.
Brittany went and visited with the patient every single day even though it was not her responsibility and talked about end of life, and what the patient's wishes were, arranged for family meetings with the medical team and the palliative teams and ultimately helped the patient accept where he was in life, becoming a DNR/DNI, and accept going home on hospice. She reviewed all the options with the patient and family, who did not have the bandwidth to take care of the patient at home, and explained thoroughly what caring for the patient at home would be like and how hospice can help with that transition.
The patient was ultimately discharged a few days later, and on the day of discharge, the family expressed thankfulness for Brittany and her conversations with them and the patient. The day the patient passed at home, he called the clinic and expressed gratitude for helping him throughout his VAD journey and helping him go home to be surrounded by his big, loving family while he was transitioning. The patient did nothing but express high praise for Brittany and gratitude for everything she and her team have done for him over the years.
Brittany's passion and dedication to her patients and understanding of how difficult their journeys can be can make such an impact not only on the patients and their families but on her co-workers as well. The example she sets drives others to practice with the same care and compassion that she does.
Brittany went and visited with the patient every single day even though it was not her responsibility and talked about end of life, and what the patient's wishes were, arranged for family meetings with the medical team and the palliative teams and ultimately helped the patient accept where he was in life, becoming a DNR/DNI, and accept going home on hospice. She reviewed all the options with the patient and family, who did not have the bandwidth to take care of the patient at home, and explained thoroughly what caring for the patient at home would be like and how hospice can help with that transition.
The patient was ultimately discharged a few days later, and on the day of discharge, the family expressed thankfulness for Brittany and her conversations with them and the patient. The day the patient passed at home, he called the clinic and expressed gratitude for helping him throughout his VAD journey and helping him go home to be surrounded by his big, loving family while he was transitioning. The patient did nothing but express high praise for Brittany and gratitude for everything she and her team have done for him over the years.
Brittany's passion and dedication to her patients and understanding of how difficult their journeys can be can make such an impact not only on the patients and their families but on her co-workers as well. The example she sets drives others to practice with the same care and compassion that she does.