Editorial by Terry Forde
A small child about five years old was preparing to go home following a minor procedure at Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center in Rockville, Md. The surgery had been successful, and the child was seated in a wheelchair, his parents standing beside him. The nurse was starting the discharge process.
Instead of speaking directly to the parents, the nurse knelt down so that she was eye-to-eye with the child. Carefully, she began to go over the instruction sheet with him, using words that he could understand. She helped focus his attention by showing him what was written on the instruction sheet, and skillfully and methodically, she engaged him in the explanations of each point.