Lippincott NursingCenter.com is partnering with Lippincott Solutions to bring you an inspired nurse’s story every month. Here is the June 2018 inspired nurse story, Mind, body and spirit.
 
Mind, body and spirit
Aimee Brewer, Clinical Nurse
Tallahassee Memorial Hospital
 
Mind-body-spirit connection has always been essential to me in critical care nursing; not only for the patients and families, but for me as well, as their nurse. I once had a patient with multiple gunshot wounds which were critical but relatively stable. This patient had never been shot before and was obviously scared. The family had gone home, so he was all alone with his thoughts. The day shift was refusing him pain medications, so I told him I would take care of him and would be there when he needed me. I reassured him he was doing well, and added how lucky he was to be alive as he had arrived at this situation due to poor life decisions.

He then looked at me and said, “I’ve never been shot before, they tried to kill me.” I simply said, “yes they did.” At that point he asked me to pray with him and so I did. And when we finished, I noticed his heart rate had gone down, along with his blood pressure. His respiration had also evened out, with his oxygen saturation increasing. As a result, he had adequate pain relief for the rest of the night. I also sprinkled some lavender oil on his pillow for added comfort. When the day shift came in the next morning, they were amazed at how relaxed he was and how his vitals had normalized. While he still had a very long road ahead of him, for my shift, the post-op night 0 shift, it was a good night.
 
To share an inspiring story of your own about being a nurse, or how you were inspired by another, and enter to win prizes, visit http://lippincottsolutions.lww.com/landing/inspired-nurses.html.  Be sure to check our blog every month for a new inspired nurse’s story.