Nursing Entrepreneur by Kristy

Nursing Entrepreneur by Kristy - April 2023 Scholarship Essay

The above phrase may seem like an oxymoron or at least unusual to you. However, nursing is a space were there are many opportunities to innovate.

Many nursing entrepreneurs currently use social media to teach, tutor, provide comic relief, or help newbies like me get ready for nursing school.

My idea is a bit different. Having attended the deaths of both of my Grandmas and my Aunt R one with hospice and one without and one in a rehab facility, I believe there is a way to provide the care that hospice would with more options for those who want to pass with less intervention or in the care of loved ones.

When my Grandma J passed we had the help of hospice, and the resources they provide. We had a hospital bed and medicine to administer to help her stay comfortable. We had inflatable cushions for her legs to help avoid bedsores and staff was just a call away if we needed help or had questions. She was in her home and surrounded by family and passed peacefully. The one thing that bothered me was administering so much medicine that she wasn’t really coherent at the end.

When my Aunt R passed, it happened very quickly. She was in a rehab facility and went to a doctors appointment in the morning, and went downhill so quickly in the afternoon that the family was called and we spent the afternoon holding her hand and trying to keep her comfortable, we did not have time to call hospice, and she passed that evening. In this instance the staff was just a call away again and were wonderful. We had all the medical equipment we needed, and medicine to keep her out of pain. The facility even supplied us with snacks and drinks so no one would have to leave to get something to eat. She wasn’t in her home, but her family was there and the staff kept her comfortable. In this instance as well she was not super lucid toward the end due in part to the medicine to keep her comfortable.

When my Grandma H passed, she had worked in healthcare 40 years and was adamant that she didn’t wan’t hospice. She was in her home and my mom and I cared for her. My mother was a CNA/CMA for 30 years and had the medical knowledge to care for her. Grandma H was mobile until the last couple weeks of her life. She was not in pain, but was scared of being alone. So we spent a lot of time holding her hand and talking to her, and making sure her covers were all snuggly warm for her. What we lacked here was the medical equipment. The hospital bed, blood pressure cuff, inflatable mattress to stave off bedsores, etc.

The end of life is only made more stressful by the logistics around providing care, and the decisions about hospice or no hospice.

I have an idea that would allow people to do end of life care their own way. It would be a facility much like an old time motor court. A ring of small cabins connected by outdoor corridors with a central building to be used as a common area, cafeteria, and offices for medical staff and administration.

Cabins would be equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment beds, lift chairs, showers, lifts, etc. that look like regular furniture. (The-medical-equipment-that-doesn’t-look-like-medical-equipment is another entrepreneurship opportunity. Have you seen these things? They are super ugly and scream old-folks-home.) They could also be filled with the patients things from home and rearranged to look as much like their home as possible. They would include kitchen and bath facilities, and ankle-height cameras that help monitor the patients and maintain privacy.

The Medical Motor Court would be a place where people could age in place or confront end-of-life on their terms. They could have care from staff or their families could provide the care in the cabin. Staff would check in regularly even if family is doing the care and answer questions or provide support.

Age in place residents could spend their time in their room or in the common area, do their own cooking or have meals from the cafeteria. Families and residents would have access to trails and gardens and could spend last days they way they prefer.

We would offer the standard medicine for hospice care morphine and other medicines that provide the same pain relief but without the incoherence. We would offer natural ways to relieve pain and anxiety and not the woo-woo hippie stuff but researched and tested effective ways that allow for a more natural passing.

This sounds like something that is already out there but actual medical care they way you want it, and not the way medical professionals that have never met you have decided, is borderline revolutionary in the time of hospitals pushing people into what is most efficient and cost effective for the hospital and not for the patient.