I recently had the pleasure of presenting the first Bayada Award for Technological Innovation in Nursing Practice and Education to a neuroscience, critical care nurse Mary Kay Bader. This award given by Drexel University and sponsored by Bayada Nurses, a home care company, recognizes nurses who use technology to change practice or education for the betterment of patients and students. Ms Bader won the award over 40 other applicants for her pioneering work in the use of a simple brain-monitoring technology that provides constant feedback to nurses caring for brain injured patients. Data provided by this technology enables nurses to significantly improve patient outcomes by adjusting their interventions in accordance with the data.
"Can you give an example of how this technology improved outcomes for a patient?" I asked as we shared a private moment after the award ceremony. The story she told was remarkable. I recount it below as she told it to me.
"It was late in the evening when I got the call from our neuro ICU that a 17-month-old baby had just been admitted with a devastating head injury. The wheel of an SUV had rolled over his head. I had a strong sense, almost a mystical one, that I must be there to care for this child. When I arrived at the hospital the child was in critical condition. You could see the tire marks on the side of his head and his brain was severely damaged.
Although the physician did not hold out much hope, he inserted the new brain-monitoring device through an intact portion of the baby's skull. The rest was up to the nurses. I truly believed that we could pull this baby through. I stayed with him all night, watching the monitor and intervening when oxygen levels fell too low. The nursing team was determined to save this baby and by day 2 he was stabilized.
The physicians told the parents that even if the baby lived, he would not develop normally. The nurses just would not accept this. It was as if we were willing this severely injured baby back to health and the technology was providing minute-to-minute feedback on how well our efforts were working. The baby fully recovered and is on a healthy developmental path. There is no cognitive deficit and it just thrills me to see him perform on the balance beam. You see, he is becoming a gymnast."
In this case, the blend of expert and informed caring and a new technology saved the life of a child. But as I listened to this nurse tell her story, I was mesmerized not so much by her innovative use of a new technology but more so by her passion, hope, dedication, and determination to give the best possible care. "We never gave up and we were right," she happily exclaimed. The lesson here is about the power and potential of technology in the hands of intelligent, caring nurses.