December 2021
Geethu
Gopinath
,
RN
Long Term Care Unit
Almoosa Specialist Hospital
Al Ahsa
,
Eastern Province
Saudi Arabia
The language barrier was not an issue to prevent Geethu from providing him the proper compassionate care.
Sunday was not a regular day for me to round for our patients but I decided to pass by the unit. I went to our patient in LTC, and I saw the sweetest thing ever and it will be etched in my heart forever. I saw his primary nurse holding him like he was her family member, feeding him, communicating with him although she is not an Arabic speaker. The language barrier was not an issue to prevent her from providing him the proper compassionate care. She managed to provide competent and compassionate care that requires her to assess the patient for his deficits before providing her care. I love how she was sharing great stories with him about the food and her country. Although she is a very busy nurse and she has a lot of work to do, still she finds the time to connect, communicate and engage. From this visit, I learned something surprising about this unit! A few minutes of genuine, engaged conversation may be the bright spot in that patient’s day, and it takes so little of a nurse’s shift and is certainly worth the effort it takes. Thank you for this nurse, her positive attitude led to positive results, which is very important when caring for seniors. Her behavior, choice of words, have a significant effect on how the patient feels.