A Quality COPD Nurse Can Make All the Difference

Have you ever had a great nurse? One that you feel went above and beyond to help you feel more comfortable?

I feel that our nurses can be so much more important to us sometimes than our doctors. I think they understand us better at times and can communicate better with the doctor on our behalf. I've noticed that many times with my own nurses and doctors.

The role of nurses for bettering patient care

When COVID started, The Alpha-1 Foundation, along with others, introduced the John W. Walsh Home Infusion Act to the House of Representatives so that infusions could be done under Medicare Part B. This was so that Alpha-1 patients could remain in their homes and not have to go into hospitals or infusion centers to receive their infusions.

So now, most Alpha-1 patients receive an IV infusion once a week. To accomplish this, a nurse comes to their home, mixes and then gives the IV infusion, checks their vitals and lungs, and sees how they are doing overall.

Some insurance companies will not cover in-home infusions, so some alpha patients go to an infusion center or hospital and have a nurse give that to them there. This seems silly in the long run of things, though, because it has been proven cheaper to do it in the home.

Can you imagine how well that bond is if you have you have someone checking in on you listening to your lungs, taking your vitals and checking on how you were doing once a week, every week from the start of your infusions for the rest of your life? That bond is pretty strong.

The impact of a compassionate nurse

Andrea, a nurse that I had in the past, helped me with so many things. She helped me fill out the application needed to get medicine when my insurance didn't cover it, she answered any questions I had via her home email and said I could ask her anything, anytime.

When I started being a support group leader and flying out to annual conferences, she is the one who helped me with my anything I needed to know about flying with oxygen and she also helped me to fill out the papers that I need back then to fly. There were many other things that she helped me with over the years, those were to just name a few.

When I left my doctor's office to move to a closer one, I was so sad to leave her. I have never had another nurse like her.

Empathy from your medical team

I think one of the reasons that she was so good is that she had asthma herself and knew what it was like to live with lung disease. She got it. She understood our needs and why we needed what we needed.

I'm sorry to say that the other nurses I have had over the years since then that I haven't formed a bond like I did with Andrea. Sure, they do their job but none of them seem to give the care that Andrea did. I would have loved to go back to my old doctor just to have a great nurse agin, but I heard that she left that office.

I often wonder where she works because I'd probably see if I could go there if it were alongside a lung doctor anywhere near me. I sure do miss her.

I'd love to hear about your nurses. Please, share with us in the comments below.