Carolyn Barney remembers well the pain and suffering she went through last summer when she was diagnosed with diverticulosis and a perforation. So, when she started experiencing similar symptoms in March, the 82-year-old from Springville knew she couldn’t wait to see a physician. However, she did have serious doubts as she headed to the Emergency Department at Utah Valley Hospital knowing physicians there were dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I figured there would be a room full of people coughing and sneezing, but there wasn’t,” says Carolyn, who’s a former nurse. “The minute I was in my room, there were six people around my bed telling me about what would happen.”
Carolyn’s care team was led by Diane Walsh, MD, one of the newer physicians in the hospital’s ED. The team evaluated Carolyn for abdominal pain as well as possible cardiac symptoms, making sure to explain the details of each test and procedure along the way.
Diane Walsh, MD
Carolyn says Dr. Walsh was very personable and made her feel like they knew each other well. That quality is something the nurses and other team ED team members have also noticed since Dr. Walsh joined the department about a year and a half ago.
“She’s very good at establishing a mutual plan with her patients,” one caregiver says. “She sets clear expectations and delivers with warmth. She’s empathetic and really takes the time to listen to her patients.”
Dr. Walsh is also known for taking advantage of teaching moments with patients and caregivers. One person pointed out how she shared the benefits of a certain app when they were discussing heart-attack patients and came up with a plan for putting on PPE faster and efficiently.
Added together, these reports make it easy to see why Carolyn felt Dr. Walsh was “extremely prompt, professional, thorough and compassionate.” She couldn’t have been more pleased that she decided to receive care at Utah Valley.
“I was very impressed,” Carolyn says. “I would tell anyone whose doctor recommends that they go to a hospital to go because they’re doing everything they can to keep you well when you’re there.”