I spent 10 days on the B4 unit. Sandra became my nurse on day 6. I have a very complicated medical history from 2 months in Baylor Dallas last year and all the complications from that critical illness. Before Sandra came in to meet me, she took the time to really read a lot of my previous medical history. Then she came in and spent at least 45 minutes gathering more information. I felt she really understood my past and current medical problems. At that point, she found out that I had not had a shower and I'd been in the bed for 6 days with no PT, even though I told them the first day that I was currently in outpatient PT and SIP. Sandra became my advocate, and within an hour or two, I got a shower, had a consultation with the Speech and Swallowing therapist, and had both an OT and PT evaluation. When she found out the shower had no hot water, she turned in a maintenance request and had someone in there to work on it by the end of the day. She also talked through with me what questions I had for the doctor and encouraged me to advocate for myself and get my needs and concerns conveyed to him. She stayed in the room with me when the doctor came in and even asked the questions I had forgotten or was too uncomfortable to ask. I appreciated this compassion and attention to detail.
The second time I had Sandra as my nurse was 2 days later, and she continued to impress me with her dedication to her job and patients. Mid-morning, she became ill and had to excuse herself for a bit while the charge nurse covered for her temporarily. Instead of going home, she was back in an hour or so later caring for her patients, even though she was not feeling well. She continued to take care of me with compassion and care.
On both days she was my nurse, she was friendly, and we exchanged details about our lives. I once heard, "People don't care what you know unless they know that you care!" I knew from the first 5 minutes that she cared about me and was going to make sure I had the best care possible.