Jodi Ecklund takes such remarkable and compassionate care of all of her patients. Working in the cardiothoracic (CT) ICU, Jodi cares for very acutely ill patients on a daily basis. The nature of our patient population sometimes means that, despite doing our best, patients have poor outcomes that we aren't able to slow down or reverse. Additionally, because of the kind of external life support we provide in the unit, we often have patients who become something more like a resident of our unit, living out their last days, week, or even sometimes months in the CTICU with their family and friends at their bedside. The past few months in our unit have seen a particularly high number of these "residents," and a high number of emotionally difficult poor outcomes for the loved ones of the patients who don't do well, but also for the staff who have cared for them.
We had a patient who came in for a CT surgery and was expected to do very well postoperatively because of how active and healthy he was coming in for his operation. An unexpected infection took an incredible toll on the patient in the days and weeks of his immediate recovery, and ultimately proved to be more than he could surmount. He wound up on life support in our unit, with machines supporting his heart and kidneys. His wife was unable to comprehend that her husband was dying, and was unable to even think about not progressing cares for her husband or starting to consider a palliative approach.
Jodi would find herself assigned to this gentleman's care on the request of the wife; she would complete her morning rounds and tasks for the patient, and then take the time to sit with the wife and check in with her. She would help her sort through some of her daily tasks when she was too frazzled to do them on her own, she found solutions and substitutions in the hospital for the things that the she had left at home, and most importantly she carved time out of her day each morning to sit and listen. The wife verbalized to me on more than one occasion that she left the hospital at the end of the day feeling better and rested more comfortably at night on the days that Jodi cared for her husband. This, in turn, made the patient himself feel more comfortable, realizing that someone was watching out for his wife as well.
When it became clear that the patient was going to die in the hospital, Jodi organized a team of people together to take a critically ill patient outside, not an easy or small task. Having been active and avid outdoorsman only weeks before, the joy the patient felt from feeling fresh air and sunshine was palpable. She made the last few weeks of his life better because of the way she conducted herself and the exemplary care that she gave.
I wish that in the CTICU we had more opportunities to recognize our nurses for the amazing work they do that contribute to good outcomes, however I feel that it's at least as important to recognize the difference that a nurse like Jodi can make in making the hardest times in our patients' lives easier.