A patient who was pregnant and looking forward to expanding her family after dealing with infertility issues came into the Women’s Health Specialists clinic at St. George Regional Hospital recently only to learn she’d had a miscarriage. She was devastated. A caregiver who’d gotten to know her during her pregnancy wanted to do something nice to offer her a little comfort during a very difficult day.
After taking the patient in a wheelchair to the OR for surgery, the caregiver—who wishes to remain anonymous and we’ll call “Jessica”—drove to Target and purchased a care package that included pajamas, a card, crackers, and a drink.
“This patient lives about an hour away and I wanted to make sure she was comfortable,” says Jessica. “When she’d arrived at our clinic she was in a lot of pain and very worried. She’d woken up in the night bleeding and knew the news wasn’t good.”
Jessica says, “I was really sad for her, especially because she’s one of my favorite long-standing patients. I wanted to make sure she had what she needed and felt cared for, both emotionally and physically.”
Jessica also appreciated how quickly all the caregivers at the clinic acted on the patient’s behalf. The patient was scheduled for surgery within 15 minutes, she says. Jessica says the doctor also understood how much pain the patient was in and prioritized helping her.
When the patient came in for her post-op visit a few days later, she brought in a card to say thank you. “She thanked us for being there for her,” Jessica says.
All the caregivers at Women’s Health Specialists are well connected, which helps them personally connect with their patients, says Jessica. “All of us are friendly and involved in each other’s lives,” she says. “We’re already accustomed to doing nice things for each other, so we naturally do nice things for our patients. I think that’s one reason why things happen so fast here.”
Jessica adds that they regularly talk about Compassion Connections at huddle and read notes from patients.
“We had another situation, recently, with a patient who’d unexpectedly had a stillbirth, and one of our caregivers organized some nice gestures for her as well,” she says. “It feels good to show our patients we care about them and empathize with their needs.”
Shelley Egley, RN, Intermountain’s patient advocacy director, says, “We often don’t take time to think about our patients having lives outside of their immediate care. When we pause to imagine what they may be feeling, it allows us an opportunity to connect and alleviate suffering. During these moments we are reminded of the reason we became a caregiver.”