Below is a letter that the Department of Emergency Medicine at Tufts Medical Center received from an emergency medicine physician visiting from Virginia whose daughter was seen in our dedicated, pediatric ER.
November 19, 2015
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing to express my utmost satisfaction and appreciation with the medical care my daughter received on Wednesday October 28, 2015. I was in town for the ACEP (American College of Emergency Physicians) conference and my daughter suffered an open distal phalanx fracture through the nailbed of her left 5th finger. The care that she received from triage through the orthopedist repair was of the highest quality and represented my best ever interaction with the health care system as a patient or father.
The day started with a very friendly triage nurse who was so kind and allowed my daughter to pepper him with questions as he gave her all the time she wanted to address her curiosity. Amy Callahan, RN was the next provider to care for Kaitlyn and she was attentive to every one of my daughter's needs and perhaps check on her a half-dozen times. Amy was a model for empathy and dedication as she provided nursing care that exceeded all of my expectations. Amy cared for Kaitlyn as if she were her own daughter.
The physicians from the Emergency Department included Dr. Edward Gill (resident), Dr. Michael Murphy and Dr. Jim Stephen. Each of them had a tremendous bedside manner and took time to break the ice with my daughter by making her smile and distracting her during any wound exploration, wound cleaning or procedure they were performing. None of them were rushed in the room and each was very respectful and courteous to me in my role as a father and emergency physician. Dr. Stephen in particular should be commended as he provided the digital block to my daughter and I have never in my life seen a patient not even notice this injection. His technique of injecting over 5 minutes was nothing short of magic.
The child life specialist, Sara Sullivan, provided an experience that was second to none and served to reinforce why such positions are invaluable in a Pediatric Emergency Department. She was patient with my daughter and somehow managed to keep her engaged with books and TV shows for what seemed like an hour or more while the digital block, meticulous wound irrigation and eventual repair occurred. There is no salary that is sufficient to compensate Sara for the service she provided my daughter.
The final provider was Dr. Andrew Younghein who was the orthopedic resident who closed the wound after further extensive wound irrigation. He was respectful to me in my role as both a father and emergency physician and he took tremendous care in explaining his rationale for the bedside closure he performed and likely need for further, more involved fracture management when we returned to Roanoke. He was clever enough to ask me to take photos on my phone so the follow up hand surgeon in Roanoke would have a good idea of what the initial injury looked like. Finally, Dr. Younghein went above and beyond by providing me his cell phone in case anything else came up while we remained in Boston. This was a truly ideal consultantinteraction in the Emergency Department.
The overall experience for my daughter and myself could not possibly have gone better in any facet of our visit. The professionalism, compassion, dedication and consideration for both my daughter and myself exceeded any possible expectations I could have had for this visit. My true regret is that the Emergency Medicine residents I teach in Roanoke, VA were not with me to take note of how a perfect pediatric ED patient encounter should unfold. Please pass along my most sincere gratitude and admiration for the performance by each and every member of the care team involved in our visit.
Respectfully,
Jack Perkins, MD, FAAEM, FACEP, FACP
