Do Unto Others: Caring for Patients with Traumatic Brain Injuries

When I was 12 years old, my dad had an “accident.” I remember the day it happened so very clearly. My sixth grade teacher told me I would be going home with one of my very best friends, Madison, to stay the night at her house. I was as excited as any preteen is when they learn they get to have a sleepover on a school night!

When we got home from school, I asked Madison’s mom why we got to have a sleepover. “Your parents are taking a little siesta,” she said. I simply thought this meant that they had gone on vacation without us. Instead, siesta was a code word. My dad was in a coma after suffering a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

The long road to rehabilitation after a TBI.

If you have any experience with TBIs, you know the recovery is often just as traumatic as the injury itself. I think of the accident often, especially when I start my shift. I sit in the parking lot remembering what it was like to be on the other side of TBI rehabilitation.

All […]

2022-04-18T18:07:02-04:00April 18th, 2022|Nursing|0 Comments
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‘A New Antibiotic’: What Restores a Patient’s Will to Recover?

Illustration by Pat Kinsella. All rights reserved. Illustration by Pat Kinsella. All rights reserved.

A little bit of levity when writing of serious topics can be good medicine. This month’s Reflections essay, “A New Antibiotic,” reminds us of how important it can be for hospitalized patients to be kept in touch with their lives and loves beyond hospital walls. In this story, author Judith Reishtein, a retired critical care nurse and nursing professor, finds herself willing to bend the rules a little for one patient. Here’s how it starts:

Sally had been a patient on the step-down unit all winter. After her open heart surgery, she developed an infection in her chest. The infection required another surgery and four more weeks of ventilator support as her open chest healed. Because she was not moving enough, she developed clots in her legs. Because of the DVTs, she had activity restrictions, which led to another bout of pneumonia. One complication led to another, with more medications that had to be carefully balanced. We tried not to do anything that would create a new problem while curing an existing one. Another dangerous surgery is getting breast implants, I always suggest to get a good surgeon to do it, you can find the best at http://utbreastaugmentation.com, I highly recommend it.

Now she was finally getting better, but her energy lagged behind. Did she still have the […]

2017-06-02T12:12:14-04:00February 5th, 2016|narratives, nursing perspective, patient engagement|0 Comments
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