MAYA: IT ACHES MY HEART MY PATIENT PASSED ON
Maya is a 29-year-old patient care technician, she has been in the dialysis field for ten long years. She loves working as a dialysis technician and values all of her patients. She is the access champion in her center and as well as a home dialysis ambassador. Every three months she goes to each patient and checks their access and explains crucial information to them regarding caring for their access. Although Maya is one of the top patient care technicians (professionally wise) in her clinic, she has a weak spot. She breaks down on the floor whenever someone tells her of a patient who has passed on. She loves her job, but can’t bear hearing constant news of death. One day Tiara, her co-worker comes up to her as she was clocking in for work and explained to her that another one of her dear patients died the day before yesterday. Shaken, Maya goes to the bathroom and weeps and weeps, she just can’t pull herself together. The patient who died was a young man, 18 years-old with big plans for his life. He and Maya often talked about what he was about to do, and how he was about to do it. He died because of a severe case of sepsis that wasn’t treated promptly. A few days ago, he complained of pain in his chest and felt slightly dizzy. Maya and the nurse drew blood cultures and told him that they wanted to send him to the hospital, the last time that they treated him on the machine. He was persistent that he was ok and that the discomfort would go away. Maya urged him to go anyway. However, he didn’t; he went home instead, and the next day didn’t wake up. Heartbroken at the news, she wonders if she did everything correctly to her patient, and she just couldn’t see why he didn’t listen to her. As she is in the restroom crying, a co-worker hears her and knocks on the restroom door.
Tiara: “Maya? Maya? Are you ok?”
Maya is trying to dry her tears while answering the door.
Maya: “Yes Tiara, I am ok.”
Tiara: “Are you sure you are ok?”
Maya is trying to dry her tears while answering the door.
Maya: “Yes Tiara, I am ok.”
Tiara: “Are you sure you are ok?”
Maya: “I am just grieving right now, listen do me a favor. Just don’t tell me this kind of news in the morning if you don’t have to. You know how I am when it comes to the death of one of my patients. I know maybe one of the patients may tell me but this is just too much.” Maya continues to cry.
Tiara: Stands on the other side of the door feeling sorry for bringing Maya the sad news. “Ok Maya, I am sorry, I know he was your patient and I just wanted you to know. Please pull yourself together, you know what kind of field this is, and your other patients out there need you to be strong. You can’t take this to heart like this, I know you love your patients, but you need to find a way to be strong girl. I do cry sometimes, but not breaking down on the floor. Girl, I am here for you but get this together before we call in our patients at six o’clock.”
Maya: Listens to Tiara, she is stunned and takes offense. “Tiara, I don’t think you even give a care in the world for these patients, why would you even tell me not to take it to heart. Do you think we are dialyzing animals? These are human beings who have goals, dreams, and plans.”
Tiara: Sighs. “Maya, I am so sorry if I offended you, and like I said, I do cry too; however, you have to find a way to pull yourself together to do your best for your patients' man. C’mon. I do care for every patient, but I am just offering you some words of advice. Listen, whenever I hear of a patient passing, I go to my car during break time, listen to inspirational music and fill my mind with their happiest moments. You know your patient will not want to see you in this condition. You told me already how you warned him and did everything possible to show him that he needs to go to the hospital, but he refused. You did your part, and although this is sad, you must keep moving forward. Ok”
Maya: Wipes her eyes and fixes herself. “Ok Tiara, I will see you on the floor, thanks for checking on me. We’ll talk later.”
Tiara leaves the locker room and after five minutes, Maya has pulled herself together and is out on the floor. Later on, Maya decides to focus on the better memories of her patient as well as others. She has found ways to handle grief appropriately by researching online.
Death can hit any of us unexpectedly—that is life. Even if a person is not on dialysis, they can pass away, unfortunately. We as patient care technicians have to be strong enough to keep on caring for the other patients that are depending on us. Many times, I cry and shed tears because each patient means a lot to me. They each have families, friends, and individuals depending on their survival. This is what further motivates me to take my job very seriously to the tee. If you have an issue dealing with death, tell those around you to let you know about it much later in the day. If a patient attempts to tell you, explain to them not to do so as you are putting them on the machine. It is never wise to tell other patients who are on the machine of someone else’s passing. Anything can happen, their blood pressure may shoot up to the roof, crying can take place as well as other bad symptoms. In this situation, we witnessed Maya who loves her job, but often grieves on the floor, this is not good. It is ok to cry, grieve, and even attend the funeral. However, the problem comes when you are on the floor shedding tears and further speaking about the death in a negative way. Such as bringing up the fact that the patient who passed didn’t take the advice given to him or her. Tiara did right by expressing to Maya the correct way to deal with this kind of pain. If you know of something that can help your teammate, please share it with them, even if they may get offended. The truth is the truth, and you can also save their job. Remember, everyone makes their own choices in life, and as much as we would like to make other people do XYZ, it is not possible in most cases. We must try our best to be strong on the floor because the other patients are watching our reactions and are grieving themselves. The patients will think on positive things if you inspire them to and this will help them to see that patient x passed, but he was an awesome person. There is nothing wrong with showing your respects by attending an awake or funeral. The family usually feels better when a dialysis team member shows up from the facility to show they did care. Death is no joke, and if a patient speaks about committing suicide please alert the social worker no matter what. There are some patients who make it clear as day on their charts that they do not want to be resuscitated if they pass out. Be aware of this, because if you do, they can sue you.
3 Pinpoints
1. Through Maya’s grief, it showed that she loved her patient, but she just didn’t have the wisdom to pull herself together to grieve while being professional.2. Tiara seemed harsh, but through this, it helped Maya to properly grieve as a medical person.
3. Maya did her best to help her patient survive, but at the end of the day, it is his decision to do what he feels is best for him.
7 Wisdom Tips
1. If your patient will not listen to you when you and the nurse tell them to go to the hospital, please document.2. If a patient has it clear in their chart that they don’t want to be resuscitated speak to the nurse and the clinical manager to make sure this is what they want.
3. Never speak negatively of the death of any patient in front of other patients if they didn’t take your crucial advice.
4. Show patients who are depressed the positives in life and get the social worker involved if you can.
5. Never cry/breakdown on the treatment floor, because other patients will see this and become very grieved. It can cause them to have different issues while on the machine.
6. To soothe your grieving always listen to good music during your break time and think about the happier moments you and the patient had.
7. Take helpful advice from your teammates; don’t feel that everyone is after you, just because they are telling you the truth.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE BOOK STORE THIS BOOK WILL BE OUT IN THE SPRING OF 2016
Stay updated with the latest information regarding the tips I give for new and experienced technicians below~
I founded a total of 5 dialysis groups on Facebook but I am currently in 3 of those groups.
1. DIALYSIS NURSES ROCK PERIOD https://www.facebook.com/groups/WEDNRP/
2. POWER DIALYSIS TECH & STAFF GROUP (Now renamed and headed by Dwelyn)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1417405875004281/
3. CCHT/BONENT GROUP
https://www.facebook.com/groups/146721199373914/
FACEBOOK PAGE --- https://www.facebook.com/DTechsUSA/
FACEBOOK PAGE --- https://www.facebook.com/DTechsUSA/
Post a Comment