I decided to write about my experience with one of our frequent flyers.  This patient is not a fan favorite and behaviors are labile – ranging from sedated and practically comatose to threatening.  The morning my observational coaching session was scheduled, I had the pleasure of being assigned to a pod in which this patient was placed.  Instead of approaching him with the no nonsense ‘this is how it’s gonna be’ attitude (which we often have to take – establishing expectations and boundaries) I decided to inhale / exhale and clean the slate and do a kill’em with kindness approach. 

Well, I can honestly say in the 5 years of caring for this patient I had my best experience with him.  We engaged in pleasant conversation, laughed and established expectations and we were able to discharge him home without any
inappropriate threatening eruptions – all in all (I think ) a very successful clean the slate.  So what I am going to do from here on out – no matter what my previous experiences were with our frequent flyers I am going to clean the slate and start off on a fresh tract erasing any preconceived notions / expectations based on our previous encounters or hearsay from my co-workers.

– As told by Candice, an Emergency Medicine Registered Nurse (RN)