Question

Nurse Mary Garrison has been a nurse in the intensive care unit (ICU) for the last 10 years and she is extremely clinically proficient. Today she is caring for Mrs. Gonzalez, a young mother of three who is recovering from injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident. Mrs. Gonzalez is worried about being in the hospital so long without seeing her children and wants to be able to see them although they are very young and not typically allowed in the ICU. Mrs. Gonzalez asks the nurse if they can visit. Nurse Garrison is very busy handling Her patient load and consulting with others who come to her for questions. She tells Ms. Gonzalez that it is against the unit’s an hospital’s rules to have children in the ICU who are under the age of 12 years and exits the bedside. Mrs. Gonzalez begins to cry because she knows her family is worried about her and she knows the children have been crying for her at home. Nurse Garrison gives report to the next 12-hour shift and reports that Mrs. Gonzalez it trying to go against hospital policy and the department needs to be united in adhering to the rules.

Discussion Question --How would you handle this situation with Mrs. Gonzalez? Was the behavior that Nurse Garrison exhibited professional or family-centered? What would be a good solution for Mrs. Gonzalez and her family? How would you demonstrate professionalism in this example?

Answer 1

Answer 1:

Mrs. Gonzalezg is getting worried about the emotional thinking of her children and it is common for a mother. Since she is in ICU (intensive care unit) she is not allowed to meet anyone younger than 12 years. Such situations are handled professionally by keeping calm and behaving normally with a cool head. Involving patient emotions only makes the case worse. Hence, try to behave professionally. Calming an emotional person should be the last thing to be done for a professional nurse.

Answer 2:

Nurse Garrison showed a professional behavior. As she is extremely proficient working ten years, she knows that calming Mrs. Gonzales is not appropriate as is normal for a mother missing her children. Hence, she behaved professionally and did not react to inappropriate requests of Mrs. Gonzales.

Answer: 3

The good solution is to act professionally as Nurse Garrison did. As nursing professionals need to have a cool head and keep calm. There are several emotional situations that need to handled by nurses professionally. Not reacting to Gonzales's inappropriate request was professional behavior. Further, she informed the nurse in the next shift about the condition of Mrs. Gonszales and the probability that she could go against the rule. Her family members could be said to keep calm. However, quarantine rules are s more professional and a good option as granting her request could harm her as well as the other patient in the ward.

Answer 4:

The behavior of Nurse Garrison is a good example of fo professionalism. She did not reacted towards the emotional behavior of Mrs. Gonzales and did not allowed her to break the rules. In case, she had granted her request, it would have broken the rules but also put other pateint in ICU in danger.