"Dignity, kindness and 'being there'"

My elderly but very independent mum had a fall at home last week, and was lucky to escape with a nasty cut to her nose. We took her to ED in the RAH to get checked to make sure she didn't require sutures. After a very short wait, she was assessed by what I assumed to be the triage nurse and asked to wait a little longer in the waiting room.

Approximately 15 minutes later, we were invited into the treatment area by an Emergency Nurse Practitioner called Carlos. He quickly put her at ease with his gentle and reassuring and extremely professional manner, with a little appropriate humour and conversation - she told me later he treated her as a person, with dignity and genuine kindness.

While repairing the damage with steristrips, at the same time explaining why sutures were not indicated and glue unlikely to contribute to healing, he continued holding her attention with conversation. Once mum's treatment was complete, he checked in with mum and myself that we were confident in what to do and what to look out for after going home, and walked us to the door. It's worthwhile to note that from arrival, mum's assessment, treatment and discharge was carried out by nursing staff.

Carlos is a credit to the nursing profession, his colleagues and to the RAH.