Demonstrate the use of therapeutic communication and the application of beginning nursing skills as a basis for practice. This is one of the learning objectives for Nursing 202. This learning outcome connects to a chapter in Critical Care that I really connected to called First Death.

Mary, a cancer patient that had lungs that were completely taken over by the cancer, was admitted to the oncology unit because she had no treatment options left. Normally patients at this level of disease would be in the ICU, but Mary had a DNR order so she stayed in the oncology unit where Theresa Brown worked as a student nurse. One day Mary presented with tachycardia and told her nurses that she felt really bad, which is never a good sign. The doctor eventually decided that she needed to be given adenosine which can be extremely painful for the patient because it is essentially restarting their heart so it can reach a normal rhythm again. Mary’s husband Al sat in the room while Mary was administered this medication that sent her in a writhing fit of pain, shaking and panicking. Theresa Brown mentions that as this is happening she turns and looks at Al and can see that he loves her so much and is in complete agony watching her being in that much pain. The moment that really stuck with me from this chapter is when Theresa smiled at him and connected with him. This is an example of therapeutic communication and even though it is nonverbal, this communication meant so much to Al. Even if it was an extremely brief interaction, it helped Al feel not so alone and secluded in that situation. I feel like the biggest part of the job of being a nurse is to help people feel like they are not alone anymore like they have someone fighting for and caring about them. Theresa felt like even though she was not much help in the Mary situation in the role of a nursing student, she was able to help Al feel not so alone which is powerful.