Matt's Holiday Story
Matt Douma, RN Clinical Scientist
Christmas is a time of year when hospitals have fewer support and administrative staff on site, so it seems slower and less crowded in the hallways. This can mean spending more time with patients in the quieter moments.
As a registered nurse working in the emergency room at an inner-city hospital, one of my favourite memories was caring for an elderly woman with mild dementia who was sent in by her family for breathing difficulties. She was anxious and confused, so we took the time to play her favourite carols, her family brought in Christmas dinner, and we wrapped a few gifts (rice pudding and mandarin oranges from the meal cart). She absolutely loved it … and so did we.
It is nice to really exceed people’s expectations when we can. People come in thinking this will be their worst Christmas ever, because they’re having an emergency. But we are able to do something special for them and demonstrate the sort of caring, empathy and compassion that really helps a person feel cared for.
This is perhaps what most people associate with nursing because they can experience it first-hand. But in addition to being a registered nurse, I am also a clinical scientist.
As an RN Clinical Scientist, I use the questions and challenges I face as an emergency nurse caring for critically ill patients to inform my research. An example of an intervention we’ve studied and improved is the use of proximal external aortic compression, which is a hemorrhage control technique. This technique has gone on to save the lives of multiple people who otherwise would not have survived.
Another example of my research is to understand the care needs of families who are experiencing sudden cardiac arrest of a family member. By working with a group of people who have experienced a sudden cardiac arrest in their family, I have been able to develop important research-backed approaches to care. If you are interested, please check out more about this research here.
But without the financial support of ARNET, this important work would not be possible. We need your support to keep this critical research going. Please donate to ARNET this holiday season.
Your donation will translate directly to ARNET supporting the research undertaken by RN Clinical Scientists that would otherwise go unfunded and new life-saving interventions that could otherwise go undiscovered.