Kara rocks! We met both working as travel nurses. I'll never forget the time she confronted other staff about the policy regarding "comfort measures". A patient that had no friends or family and was actively dying had comfort orders only in his chart. This means no treatment will be given because there is nothing more that can be done. The death rattle could be heard and the patient was visibly distressed. Per policy we could only make him comfortable. Well, blankets and repositioning was not doing the trick. The other staff said to shut the door. One person said, "there's nothing we can do. He may look like he's dying but could live another couple of days. He was a mean, miserable man anyways." The patient had no one to advocate on his behalf. So Kara stepped up and we were able to administer morphine and oxygen to the patient. I held his hand until my shift was over. He passed away 30 minutes into the next shift. I'm not sure, what, if anything the patient felt during his last few hours, but, thanks to Kara, he at least appeared peaceful in his final moments.
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