By Marcus Engel, Notre Dame Adjunct Faculty, Founder of I'm Here Movement
marcusengel.com
I am always on the lookout for stories. Ya know, being a storyteller, it’s kinda what I do. This one came from a nurse I met this summer in Chicago. She can tell it better than I can, so these are her words:
I was working in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) taking care of open-heart patients.
At shift change and in front of a patient and his wife, my fellow nurse used some common abbreviations while giving me report, such as CABG (Coronary Artery Bypass Graft), HTN (Hypertension), and CHF (Chronic Heart Failure). After report, I was doing my assessment of my patient when his wife asked, “Could you please stop referring to my husband as a vegetable?” I had no idea what she was talking about.
Confused and bewildered, she continued. "Every shift, you nurses say, 'This is Mr. Jones, and he is a cabbage x5.'" Right then, I knew what she was referring to. We say CABG x __ meaning the patient is post-op Coronary Artery Bypass Graft x ___ (however many vessels were used).
I apologized over and over and gave her a full explanation of our terminology. She thanked me and we both wished someone had taken the time to explain the terminology earlier.
Faithful reader, this was such an honest mistake, right? It was a simple oversight on the part of the nursing staff that the language they use every day is foreign to patients and families. I hope we can all remember that the populations we serve aren’t always fluent in "medical-ese."
Yet, as a human being who can feel empathy, doesn’t your heart just go out to this wife? And to the nurse? We all know the seriousness of cardio surgery. We can all imagine the fear and nerves a family member (much less a spouse) would have seeing a very ill loved one suffering. Personally, if my spouse was having an open heart procedure, I’d be a nervous wreck.
But then? In the ultimate case of adding insult to injury, the family member perceives the communications from caregivers as name-calling, the lowest form of negative communication. I mean, seriously? If that wife had gotten so furious over the mistake that she would have acted ugly, would anyone blame her?
The terminology “human vegetable” became popular a few decades ago, and it carries a horrifying connotation. If a family member hears a loved one being referred to as a vegetable, it can bring about all types of mental images that may not even be accurate.
Please be mindful that your words can (and often will) be unfamiliar to patients and families. The better explanations given, the more we can avoid misunderstanding. Instead of creating greater anxiety, we can help reduce stress during the most vulnerable of times.
Hear Marcus share his story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYBO-uPcb7w
Read more about Marcus' work at Notre Dame here: https://www.nd.edu/stories/compassionate-care/
marcusengel.com
I am always on the lookout for stories. Ya know, being a storyteller, it’s kinda what I do. This one came from a nurse I met this summer in Chicago. She can tell it better than I can, so these are her words:
I was working in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) taking care of open-heart patients.
At shift change and in front of a patient and his wife, my fellow nurse used some common abbreviations while giving me report, such as CABG (Coronary Artery Bypass Graft), HTN (Hypertension), and CHF (Chronic Heart Failure). After report, I was doing my assessment of my patient when his wife asked, “Could you please stop referring to my husband as a vegetable?” I had no idea what she was talking about.
Confused and bewildered, she continued. "Every shift, you nurses say, 'This is Mr. Jones, and he is a cabbage x5.'" Right then, I knew what she was referring to. We say CABG x __ meaning the patient is post-op Coronary Artery Bypass Graft x ___ (however many vessels were used).
I apologized over and over and gave her a full explanation of our terminology. She thanked me and we both wished someone had taken the time to explain the terminology earlier.
Faithful reader, this was such an honest mistake, right? It was a simple oversight on the part of the nursing staff that the language they use every day is foreign to patients and families. I hope we can all remember that the populations we serve aren’t always fluent in "medical-ese."
Yet, as a human being who can feel empathy, doesn’t your heart just go out to this wife? And to the nurse? We all know the seriousness of cardio surgery. We can all imagine the fear and nerves a family member (much less a spouse) would have seeing a very ill loved one suffering. Personally, if my spouse was having an open heart procedure, I’d be a nervous wreck.
But then? In the ultimate case of adding insult to injury, the family member perceives the communications from caregivers as name-calling, the lowest form of negative communication. I mean, seriously? If that wife had gotten so furious over the mistake that she would have acted ugly, would anyone blame her?
The terminology “human vegetable” became popular a few decades ago, and it carries a horrifying connotation. If a family member hears a loved one being referred to as a vegetable, it can bring about all types of mental images that may not even be accurate.
Please be mindful that your words can (and often will) be unfamiliar to patients and families. The better explanations given, the more we can avoid misunderstanding. Instead of creating greater anxiety, we can help reduce stress during the most vulnerable of times.
Hear Marcus share his story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYBO-uPcb7w
Read more about Marcus' work at Notre Dame here: https://www.nd.edu/stories/compassionate-care/