By Glenna Murdock, RN, contributor
It is not unusual that certain patients, their families and their situations forever linger in the memories and hearts of the nurses who care for them. But for Patrice Rancour, MS, RN, CS, so many of her patients took up residence in her consciousness that she felt compelled to honor them by sharing their stories in a book, Tales from the Pager Chronicles.
Patrice Rancour, RN, felt compelled to honor the patients who touched her life by sharing their stories in a book,
Tales from the Pager Chronicles.
During her 12-year stint as a mental health clinical nurse specialist at a Columbus, Ohio cancer research institute, Rancour’s days were governed by the beep of a constant companion—the pager that beckoned her from one bedside crisis to the next. While the procedural care of the patient was performed by each unit’s nursing staff, Rancour’s clinical territory was the entire hospital, where she dispensed support, encouragement, truth or consolation. Every day was infused with drama.
Feeling the need for a change after more than a decade in a job that, while undeniably gratifying, was so emotionally challenging, Rancour accepted a position with the faculty/staff wellness program at Ohio State University in 2003. She jumped into her new job with great enthusiasm, but her patients at the cancer institute and the nurses who cared for them there were constantly in her thoughts.
“I was haunted and humbled by the experiences I’d had working with such remarkable individuals,” Rancour explained. “I couldn’t get their voices out of my head—they gave me no peace. They had included me in the most intimate moments of their lives and I was incredibly touched by their complete and relentless trust in me. I felt compelled to tell the stories of the exceptional people we, as nurses, serve and, also of those who serve them.”
Rancour sees the book—a collection of individual stories in which facts have been altered to preserve patient confidentiality—as an opportunity to educate the public about what nurses really do and that, by doing so, nurses will be accorded the same dignity as teachers have been given.
“I want the public to understand how nurses involved in caring for people with life-threatening illnesses are affected by ‘compassion fatigue’ and how they handle it,” Rancour said. “It is an error in judgement to think that we are unaffected by the suffering we see every day. The public needs to know what it’s like for us to go into each room keeping our hearts open to those who are suffering and, then, to return the next day.”
The Pager Chronicles also addresses the tough subject of “courageous conversations,” those conversations that help patients and their families weigh the benefits and burdens of treatment options, and examine the quality of life versus quantity of life implications of decision-making to help patients align their values with the big picture.
Rancour emphasized that often informed consent occurs by default on a procedure-to-procedure basis, with the big picture never having been explained to the patient. By having these courageous conversations and describing the outcomes they’ve witnessed, nurses encourage patients and families to make decisions in an informed way.
“One third of all families who have a family member die in ICU go bankrupt. This is due, in part, to the patients receiving futile care because no one leveled with them that the treatment would most likely fail,” said Rancour. “In our death-phobic society, someone has to speak up. Many doctors don’t do it and as health educators and counselors, it does fall within our scope of practice.”
Rancour stressed that The Pager Chronicles is not intended to teach a skill set in the manner of a textbook (which will be her next project with F.A. Davis & Co.). Instead, it is designed to inform the reader by the anecdotal nature of the individual stories.
“Nurses need to share their stories so that the public knows what it is we do,” she said. “Our stories as a group are remarkable but we remain fairly invisible until the public needs us and only then do they see the profound difference we make in illness, life and death.”
Rancour corrected the common misconception that this kind of nursing is a depressing line of work.
“It was never depressing,” she said. “I’d call it intense—and life-affirming.”
As a nurse, Patrice Rancour has held positions as an educator, consultant and clinician, and has been in private practice for 27 years.
To order Rancour’s book, visit the Nursing Knowledge International Web site at www.nursingknowledge.org or call 888-634-7575.
© 2008. AMN Healthcare, Inc. All Rights Reserved.