Nominated by Eric Tewksbury |
Shantel came to work in our dialysis unit about 7 months ago. Shantel came from an out-patient PD (peritoneal dialysis) clinic, so PD is her specialty. While working here at Duke there was a high school age patient that came under the care of the dialysis unit. The patient developed a hole in his PD catheter. Typically, the catheter can be cut and a new fitting can be added on. In this case the hole was in a location that would not allow this since it would not leave enough material for the fitting. The renal team was leaning towards scheduling a surgery to replace the catheter. The mom of the patient was rather upset, since this was unexpected and would require a hospital admission and he would miss going to his high school prom. Shantel suggested a repair kit could be used to add length to the catheter. Duke did not have such a kit and was not familiar with using one. Shantel made a few phone calls and was able to obtain a kit. Shantel was given the clearance to repair the kit after discussion with the renal team. The patient’s PD catheter was repaired and saved the patient from a surgery. The patient’s mom was very grateful. The patient was able to go home and also make it to his prom…. thanks to Shantel Washington!!
