When Omolara (Lara) Adamson had surgery, she not only swapped her nurses scrubs for a hospital gown, but she was a patient on her own unit, 7E at St. Joseph’s Hospital. Originally from Nigeria, Lara received her nursing education in the United States. She graduated in 2008 and worked as a rehabilitation nurse until about a year and a half ago. Now she works on the oncology unit. Recently Lara had surgery that required her to be observed in hospital until the following day. She chose to be on her own unit because she felt she would be more comfortable being surrounded by familiar faces since this was her first surgery. She says, “It was a real blessing for me to be in the care of my colleagues. It made me feel like I was being taken care of by my own family. I remember coming to the unit after surgery, almost all the staff on duty came to welcome me into my room, including my unit manager, which really meant a lot to me.” Lara feels that her credentials as a health care provider actually made it easier for her to be a patient. She says, “I was calm for the surgery and better able to understand my prognosis.” As far as being treated differently because she is a nurse, Lara feels that the care she received was the same as the care received by any other patient. Lara remembers that she questioned her anesthesiologist about the medications she was given. The doctor replied that it was a combination of medicines and it wouldn’t make any sense to describe what each medicine was. Lara says, “Although I did not disclose to the anesthesiologist that I am a health care provider, I do understand her point of view at the same time.” Lara also says that being a patient instead of the nurse gave her a great appreciation for the press call light. “It made me realized that when a patient presses the call light, they actually need help, regardless of what the health care provider is doing at that moment. When I got up from bed to use the bathroom for the first time, I was nauseated; I did not want to wake my poor husband who was finally getting some sleep. At the same time I didn’t want to bother the nurses, I thought I could do it by my self.” “My nausea was coming on strong and I was trying to prevent throwing up on my gown and giving the nurses extra work to do. I finally made up my mind to press the call button. The nurses came and I was rescued from all my trouble.” Putting herself back into the role of health care provider, Lara says that she has much more empathy for the patient. She says, “I realized what might be going on in their mind when we go into the room and find them helpless. Lara offers this piece of advice to other nurses and healthcare workers. “Treat that call light like you would treat a red light when driving. When a patient puts that light on, they really need assistance and answering the call light on time could save a whole lot of drama like calling a code, changing the linen or preventing a fall.” Lara feels very privileged to have been tended to by her colleagues. And she is sincerely appreciative of the outstanding care she received. She says, “All the nurses, nurse techs and managers were fantastic. I am using this medium to say thank you to all of Emory Saint Joseph Hospital’s 7 East staff.”
