Pediatric nurse models mentor to calm anxious teen

Major hip surgery is never easy, but when a teen came to the University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital for an invasive and painful hip dysplasia procedure, the anxiety was nearly overwhelming. The recovery was uncertain; the pain was severe, and for someone whose sibling had extensive medical issues as a child, the patient carried trauma surrounding hospital stays.

Morgan Frascht, RN, who works on the Pediatric Medical-Surgical floor at Stead Family Children’s Hospital, was the patient’s nurse throughout their entire stay. When Frascht and the patient met, they quickly got to know each other, discussing everything from pain medication to recovery timelines, the ins and outs of the medical procedure, and food preferences. These simple conversations stuck with the patient’s parents and led them to nominate Frascht for a DAISY award®.

“When she got to [our child’s] room, we could immediately tell that Morgan was going to be wonderful. She was very attentive, asking about pain, comfort, food, drinks, and anything [our child] might want or need,” wrote the patient’s parents in Frascht’s DAISY Award nomination form.

As a pediatric nurse, Frascht understands what makes teenagers tick. She takes it upon herself to focus on the relationship-building aspect of her job, the reason why she became a nurse in the first place.

“I like to tell my patients, ‘Hey, this is our game plan for today. These are the goals I want to meet.’ I’ll always ask them where their pain is sitting,” Frascht says. "This patient was scared that the pain was going to get to the point where they couldn't handle things. I could tell the patient was very independent and wanted to make sure they had as much control over the situation as possible.”

Frascht noticed the patient was especially concerned about the catheter removal, something that seems routine to health care workers but can be scary for patients of all ages. So, she put herself in the patient’s shoes, anticipating how she would want to be told, and took the time to coach the patient through the procedure from start to finish.

“I told the patient to take a deep breath and to remember that the discomfort will only last 5 seconds, and then it would be done,” Frascht says.

Frascht went on to prioritize the patient’s privacy during the catheter removal, giving the patient the option to ask their parents to step out of the room. She finds that teenagers are often both looking for privacy during invasive procedures while also relying heavily on their parents for support during their stays. Frascht helped the patient and the parents navigate the delicate balance, recognizing that they, too, may be anxious about their child.

“The parents were very present during the stay and spent the night in the room, so the patient wouldn’t be all alone,” Frascht says. “It's so important that we as nurses make sure the parents are cared for, too, and always know what's going on. They’re really the best advocates for these kids.”

While taking this approach seems to come naturally to her, Frascht credits her mother-in-law, who also works at UI Health Care as part of the Pediatric Pain and Palliative care team, with modeling what holistic patient and parent care looks like. “If I can be half the nurse that she is someday, that would be amazing,” Frascht says.

When Frascht received her DAISY Award, she was surprised to see her mother- and father-in-law present, along with the rest of her floor. She described it as a memory she treasures and uses it to guide her care moving forward.

“I was very honored to receive the DAISY Award, and to receive a nomination for something that seemed so simple to me – a catheter removal,” Frascht says. “It goes to show that everything we do is important to our patients and their families.”