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Tuesday, May 13
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 Daniel Wilson, RN |
"My Job is to Earn Their Trust"
Originally published in South Florida Hospital News, January 2006
Daniel Wilson, RN, is peering through his steamy windshield in a driving rainstorm, looking for a home address in North Miami-Dade County. His beeper goes off; the VITAS admissions coordinator is filling him in on a new referral. It’s going to be a busy day, but Wilson silences his beeper for now and prepares to make a dash for the front door he’s finally found.
Wilson is a senior admissions nurse for VITAS Innovative Hospice Care® of Miami-Dade. He spends his day visiting homes, nursing facilities and hospitals, talking to patients and families who have called or been referred to VITAS. He answers questions, he assesses patients, he listens. He introduces the concepts of hospice and comfort care, and he determines whether a patient is hospice appropriate.
“Maybe I go to Parkway Medical Center to see a patient on full life support,” Wilson says by way of explanation, “and the family is in complete, absolute denial. But their doctor has referred them to VITAS. My job is to earn their trust.
“It’s all eyes and ears on my part; I use all my senses. I talk to the family, see what their needs are, look at the patient, the meds. I find out where the patient has been, how many times he’s been in and out of the hospital. Eventually I ease into cultural and spiritual needs. Once they feel comfortable, I explain VITAS’ services, first broadly and then focus on those that will affect them specifically.
“People like to talk about what’s going on, usually,” he says. “Once they see that I’m genuinely interested, they tell me what their needs are. Sometimes I have to consult with the family and answer questions about taking their loved one off full life support, getting him off the ventilator, out of the ICU and onto the VITAS inpatient floor, to spend his final days where it’s quiet and serene and there is an excellent social worker and chaplain—great support for the terminally ill.
“This is a very gratifying job,” says this behind-the-scenes nurse. “I get the ball rolling, identify the immediate and long-term needs, ask the hospice doctor to prescribe opioids to be delivered that day. By the time I leave, the family is saying thank you, they’re happy; they know someone is there to help.
“The admissions nurse is the triage nurse of hospice. It’s a new challenge every day, there’s no routine. You have to be spontaneous, think on your feet, know how to help a patient in the first 24 hours. When I walk away, their hospice experience is just beginning, but I know I’ve done something to help their pain.
“I’ve been a VITAS nurse for 13 years and a nurse since the age of 20,” says Daniel Wilson, “and this is the best job I’ve ever had.”
100 South Biscayne Blvd, Suite 1500 Miami, FL
33131 (305) 374-4143 |
