Getting close is a risk worth taking for ICU nurses at St. Joe’s
It can be difficult to make an emotional connection with a patient who is too ill to stay awake, or whose speech is hampered by breathing tubes. These are scenarios found every day in the Intensive Care Unit at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. All the technology being used can create a distance between patients and the professionals looking after them. But what about the spouse who sits tearfully at the bedside? Or the daughter who raced across four provinces to shore up her ailing parents?
It was a palliative care conference two years ago that inspired nurse Neala Hoad and her colleagues to bring more personalized care to St. Joe’s ICU. For those unable to communicate, it would be up to families to provide the back story, the person’s ‘footprints’ leading up to St. Joe’s. ICU staff came together to help develop a list of questions that would define the person rather than the patient.
“The questions themselves go from practical, like do they need a hearing aid, do they wear dentures, do they need a cane, to something like where did they grow up? Do they have beliefs or practices that are spiritual in nature?” says Hoad.
The ‘Footprints Form’ is given to families shortly after arrival in the ICU. They can share as much information as they choose. Key, relevant responses are written on a Footprints whiteboard in the patient’s room for all staff to see at a glance. ‘He prefers Bill over William. He has seven grandkids. He loves fishing.’
Families are also asked to bring a picture for the whiteboard. “It gives us a chance to reflect on them as an individual as opposed to a person with a disease or a person with an illness,” says Hoad. “Footprints has humanized our care, and that was really the goal of the project.”
It’s made a difference to families, hearing a nurse talk to their loved one about the family dog or playoff standings.
It’s made a difference for staff too, adds Hoad. “I think it’s made me a better nurse.”