Introduction
Nurses spend much of their time in hospital environment interacting with patients and visitors from all walks of life. They put on a smiling face daily, which is always reassuring. By spending much time with patients, nurses normally have a major influence on their safety and experience. Moreover, communication between the sick individuals and nurses helps improve patient satisfaction in hospitals. According to Burgener (2020), interactions between Medicare providers and their clients are a precondition for patient safety. As a result, recognizing the work of nurses and providing psychosocial support is vital. These caregivers are human too and fall ill as everybody else. Therefore, it is crucial that nurses receive the same support level when faced with challenges as they always provide to their clients, since even givers have needs too.
Discussion
Rachael is an American born in Kansas in the year 1967. She and her husband are blessed with five children, three being male and the rest females. The family has shown profound love for their children and could always be admired. As a registered nurse, Rachael has been working in the hospital environment and resting at home, taking care of her family during off days. The majority of the patients who interact with her describes her as hardworking, caring, and joyful person. It is rumored that she even makes patients in the intensive care unit smile, which is absolutely true. In her current role, she takes care of older adults as a nurse in the geriatric recovery ward. It is also thought she had been posted in this section because of her care and laughter that improved patient’s outcome and satisfaction; however, sometimes even the givers have needs.
Despite their life challenges, health care workers have always given the sick high spirits of hope in their time of need. In spite of putting on a smiling face and still going to work, Rachael has a problem. At the age of 40, she was diagnosed with leukemia, a condition that has impacted her life. One morning before leaving for work, Rachael experienced fever, persistent fatigue and weakness. Some weeks later she started developing swollen lymph nodes, and tiny petechial on her skin. Prior to that, Rachael had been feeling weak and losing weight drastically. She also had short incidences of losing breath and was diagnosed with an enlarged liver. Due to the seriousness of her illness, she was admitted to the hospital and began treatment immediately. This was a tough time for her family, especially her husband. The children missed their mother, and it felt unhappy being at home without her. Rachael was both a mother and a friend to her children.
When diagnosed with serious illnesses and conditions, patients normally go through a stage of denial. In this phase, ailing individuals believe that their disease diagnosis has been mistaken and normally cling to a false reality that they prefer (Lakhtakia 2019). However, upon realizing that they cannot continue to be in the denial stage, frustrations normally occur, resulting in depression. The level for denial in cancer patients ranges from 4 – 47%, with an impact of 8 – 70% and deprivation of effect ranging from 18 – 42% (Pene et al., 2019). Rachael has never accepted the diagnosis from the doctors and thought they had made a mistake. I remember visiting her one day in the patients’ ward and asked how she was feeling. She replied, “I am feeling just fine, though I know what you might be thinking, but let me assure you that this diagnosis is a mistake, I cannot have leukemia, dear, it is not possible.”
Furthermore, during the night, in her sleep, she could be heard pleading to doctors to let her go that she was not sick, and that she is not sick. Her family members were worried about her mental health, they thought she might get into depression at some point. Rachael, a well-known nurse who gave patients hopes and positively perceived life to be so low, was hard to believe that she was the one in need of the same support now. At one instance, she said to me, “I think God is punishing me, dear, why me?” This portrays a vivid picture that she needed a friend who would make her understand that treatment can work for her like she had assured patients in the geriatric ward.
Several treatments are involved with the cure of chronic leukemia. They include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy, and stem cell transplant (Pene et al., 2019). Owing to the increased worsening of her condition, Rachael started chemotherapy almost immediately. Due to the expensive nature of the treatment, her family has been going through a great deal of hardships. Since she had an enlarged spleen, Rachael had to undergo a surgical operation to remove the overgrown spleen. Moreover, she was placed on regular chemotherapy to control and manage her symptoms. This a drug which is normally administered intravenously or orally to kill the actively dividing cells in the body. Consequently, because of her body’s reaction to the procedure, she experienced weight loss and significantly lost most of her hair.
Accordingly, Rachael developed problems in remembering, concentrating, and also experienced hearing difficulties. However, most of her side effects have improved with time, as she got better after the chemotherapy and was released from the hospital. She was also given suggestions for eating well and looking after her welfare. The family is now happy to have her back in the house. Nevertheless, Rachael is tired due to her treatments and cannot go about her duties diligently as before. She is weak and sad and had also developed thoughts about death, as she viewed herself as not worth living. “I wish I can just die to save myself from the pain and my family from the burden of looking after me,” she once said. On her return to the hospital, her patients only realized her loss of weight. However, despite her ordeal and challenges, Rachael still loves attending to her patients and keeps smiling and reassuring them even though she does not believe in herself. Her communication with the clients is the same and means a great deal to the geriatric patients. Maneuvering through work and the home is challenging though. However, that does not stop her spirit as a nurse. She is determined to fulfill her oath to saving and protecting lives.
Conclusion
Normally, people tend to forget that nurses such as Rachael are human too, and they neglect to give the same care and support to these caregivers as they themselves had received when they were ill. As everyone needs psychosocial sustenance, nurses also require the same as they persevere all the challenges they have both medically and socially and put on a happy face for clients. The society should also care about the condition of the healthcare workers, especially when they are sick or undergoing life challenges. Rachael had gone through a rough journey that required the same psychosocial and emotional support she had been giving to her patients. As a result, people should always try to encourage each other. Individuals have multiples burdens, and some chose to smile for the benefit and greater good of others.
References
Burgener, A. M. (2020). Enhancing communication to improve patient safety and to increase patient satisfaction. The health care manager, 39(3).
Lakhtakia, R. (2019). Denial in cancer—salutary or deleterious. Journal of Cancer Education, 34(2), 406-407.
Pene, C. T. H., & Kissane, D. (2019). Communication in cancer: Its impact on the experience of cancer care: Communicating with the angry patient and the patient in denial. Current opinion in supportive and palliative care, 13(1).