Education is Key to Treatment of Patients...
The Urology/GYN/Orthopedics Nursing Unit
This article was first published in Health View, November 2001.
Seventh Nursing Unit Staff at CHS: Front row seated (l-r): Sylvia Floyd, Sally Donovan and Debbie McAllister. Back row (l-r): Stasi Witt, Melissa Sarmiento, Angela Watson, Sue Whaley, Sheri Sherwin, Lynn Katzenberger, Paul Micale and Barbara Cockfield.
Nurse manager Stasi Witt can recommend 41 of the best ways for the patients on the 7th Nursing Unit of Carolinas Hospital System to recuperate. Those 41 recommendations come in the way of the nurses, technicians and secretaries who work together to assure that patients receive compassionate, quality care. "I encourage teamwork. I think that the nature of nursing lends itself to teamwork," said Witt, who's responsible for the 35 bed-unit that provides care for urology, gynecology and orthopedics patients.
Serving both medical and surgical patients, the staff on the seventh floor treats a wide range of illnesses and injuries. On any given day that could include a pregnant woman who's dehydrated, a man with prostate cancer, or a couple who has suffered numerous broken bones in a car accident. The average length of stay is three to four days, so the staff sees a lot of patients come and go on the fast-paced unit. "They do an excellent job to maintain their calm in the midst of intense activity," Witt said. "They remain level-headed to do whatever needs to be done for the patients," she added.
The needs of patients can vary as much as the conditions that bring them to the seventh floor, yet certain components of nursing care remain consistent across the board. In her 27 years of nursing, Witt has found that education is one of those essential components. "The nurse's job as an educator is one that's never completed. We have to educate our patients from the very beginning of their stay until they leave," Witt said. Some elderly men and women end up on her unit after they fall and break a hip. Witt stressed that the education process for these patients is particularly important. "The hip injury really changes their lifestyle. Take the woman who has been at home and able to care for herself, doing her own cooking, her own housework. Then she breaks her hip and can't manage anymore. She wants to know what will happen to her," Witt said. Once that patient understands about the necessary hip surgery and how rehabilitation services will help her recovery, her anxiety level about the future starts to diminish.
Education also plays an important role with patients who have had radioactive palladium seeds implanted to treat prostate cancer. Although these men have been instructed before surgery that they will be in an isolation room after the procedure, Witt has found that once they are actually in isolation they have a lot of questions. "A special precaution sign is put on the door, they can't see their grandchildren, and all of a sudden things change for them. We have to reiterate why children can't visit," she said, explaining that the radiation produced by the palladium seeds is highly active for a few days and necessitates special precautions as the seeds gradually lose energy.
While the patients admitted to the seventh floor are the staff's official charges, their spouses and children and siblings become just as much a part of every nurse's job. "The family members need a lot of reassurance that their loved one is on target, that things are normal. If things aren't normal, they want to know what can be done," Witt said. She added, "We do a lot of explaining to the families on what to expect with a particular surgery or treatment." The nurses also serve as a liaison between family members and the rest of the hospital team caring for the patient. "We try to provide them with the information they want to know. How did the X-rays look? How were the lab tests? If they're really anxious, we'll call the doctor's office and see what we can find out for them," Witt said.
In addition to the stress of the patient's illness or injury, spending long hours at the bedside can be very draining for family members. "We tell them that they don't need to be here 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We encourage them to go home, take a shower, and then come back. We make it clear that they need to take care of themselves as well," said Witt.
As the seventh floor staff cares for the physical needs of their patients who are trying to pass kidney stones, recuperating from hysterectomies, and taking their first steps after knee replacement surgery, they're also in tune with the accompanying emotional needs. "We want to give more than just the technical support with medications and IV fluids and treatments. We want to give the emotional support as well. That's probably the biggest portion of what we do," Witt said. "If someone has been told they have kidney cancer instead of a kidney stone, then we're going to be there to provide them with that support," she explained. She values those times when she can talk in detail with patients about what really worries them. "Sometimes they feel like they just can't talk to their family members about whatever is on their mind," she said.
Though most patients stay only briefly on her unit, Witt gets particular satisfaction in seeing their progress during their hospitalization. "We'll see people come in sleepy and hurting after surgery, and those same people leave smiling a couple of days later," she said. It also means a lot when her actions can make a patient feel better, even if it's as simple as offering a nauseous patient a Coke and a cool cloth, then turning the lights off. "You can tell as you leave the room that the patient has already improved a bit. Sometimes it's the little things that really make a difference," she said.
By Diane J. Epperly, Contributing Writer
Back to Reference Library.