Linda Albrecht
May 2019
Linda
Albrecht
,
RN
Emergency Department
Aspirus Medford Hospital & Clinics
Medford
,
WI
United States
A 5-year-old pediatric patient was brought to Emergency Services at Aspirus Medford Hospital by her mother. The patient had stomach pains for about 7 days, and it seemed to be getting worse. The Emergency Department was very busy this evening, and the patient had to wait for a while to get into the department. That's where she met Linda Albrecht.
Linda developed a great rapport with both the mother and the patient, who said, "Linda was very kind to me and more importantly amazing with my daughter." Linda took the information gathered during triage and reported her findings to the doctor on duty. After this, the doctor came in and did a short assessment and was preparing to discharge the patient. The mother was concerned about the plans for discharge and was worried about her daughter's wellbeing.
Linda recognized this fear/animosity and inquired about it. The mother voiced that she was not comfortable with the current plan of care, and this is when Linda really became a patient advocate. Linda approached the attending physician and explained that the mother was not comfortable with the current plan of care of discharging the patient so soon. Linda was also able to help explain to the doctor that the patient had labs drawn recently and that the mother was doing exactly what she was told to do by bringing her daughter back if she was not getting better.
By Linda doing this, the care given was changed, and an in-depth workup was provided, yielding a patient that felt much better. Linda was a patient advocate and really made the mother feel like she was in the right place. The mother expressed her sincere gratitude for having Linda as her daughter's nurse multiple times, calling Linda "caring, devoted, and compassionate". The mother went on to explain that Linda "was truly a voice for her patient and spoke up when it was really needed. Even after Linda's shift was done, after a busy day, she stopped in to say goodnight, and that she hoped my daughter felt better and hopefully we would get some answers. I cannot thank her enough for all that she did. I am truly grateful that we got Linda for our RN that night."
Linda developed a great rapport with both the mother and the patient, who said, "Linda was very kind to me and more importantly amazing with my daughter." Linda took the information gathered during triage and reported her findings to the doctor on duty. After this, the doctor came in and did a short assessment and was preparing to discharge the patient. The mother was concerned about the plans for discharge and was worried about her daughter's wellbeing.
Linda recognized this fear/animosity and inquired about it. The mother voiced that she was not comfortable with the current plan of care, and this is when Linda really became a patient advocate. Linda approached the attending physician and explained that the mother was not comfortable with the current plan of care of discharging the patient so soon. Linda was also able to help explain to the doctor that the patient had labs drawn recently and that the mother was doing exactly what she was told to do by bringing her daughter back if she was not getting better.
By Linda doing this, the care given was changed, and an in-depth workup was provided, yielding a patient that felt much better. Linda was a patient advocate and really made the mother feel like she was in the right place. The mother expressed her sincere gratitude for having Linda as her daughter's nurse multiple times, calling Linda "caring, devoted, and compassionate". The mother went on to explain that Linda "was truly a voice for her patient and spoke up when it was really needed. Even after Linda's shift was done, after a busy day, she stopped in to say goodnight, and that she hoped my daughter felt better and hopefully we would get some answers. I cannot thank her enough for all that she did. I am truly grateful that we got Linda for our RN that night."