During Patient Experience Week, we spoke to Michele Evans, Nurse Unit Manager, who shared a heart-warming story about how a little idea resulted in an amazing improvement in a patient’s experience at Monash Health.
Michele was the Associate Unit Manager on Ward 41 at the time.
“The patient came to us from a nursing home,” Michele says. “The nursing home could no longer care for her and requested Monash Health facilitate a more appropriate placement for her.”
The patient experienced paranoia and hallucinations. She was frightened but couldn’t articulate why. She would wander around the ward with a look of worry on her face.
A nursing home that could provide suitable care for the patient was found and an assessment scheduled. The staff were worried that in her current state she wouldn’t pass the assessment criteria to get a placement in the new home. She was running out of the usual options.
“I noticed that she tended to sit and talk to her arms,” says Michele. “And sometimes she’d walk around with a towel over her shoulder, like you would carry a crying or a sleeping baby.”
“I remembered as a student I worked at a nursing home and patients with dementia would be settled by having a doll or a stuffed toy,” Michele says.
Michele bought a soft lifelike baby doll and brought it to work.
“We wrapped the doll in a blanket and took the doll over to the patient and asked her to look after it. Immediately we noticed a change in her behaviours. She’d be singing songs, or trying to change the baby, or wipe it’s face. It just made all the interactions with her so much easier, and it was a bit of fun for the nursing staff as well.”
The patient passed her nursing home assessment with flying colours.
“They were really impressed by how she reacted to the doll,” Michele says.
The team on Ward 41 are recognised for their person-centred care and for looking at ways to deliver personalised and holistic care to their patients.
Approved by Anjali Dhulia