Not Just The Patient (Tales from the CCU)
added by geena on June 26, 2007 at 9:14 AM
I was out at the desk putting more paper in the recorder when a patient's wife came running out to the station.
"Please come quick! Someone come check on my husband!"
Not having heard any alarms, I quickly glanced at the monitor and saw nothing out of the ordinary (Not like that comforts me anymore) but headed into his room right behind his wife.
"He's breathing fast, he's coughing and his pulse is really high!"
I looked at the patient. He was on the ventilator and yes, he looked as though he was breathing a bit fast. The vent confirmed this, showing that he was breathing over 40 times per minute. Looking at the monitor, I saw that his heart rate was 88. I then turned towards the wife and she knew what I was going to say...
"Well, it was 102 a second ago!!"
"But it's okay now. And you're right, he's breathing fast. This is the second day that we've tried to wean him from the ventilator and he's not tolerating the lower settings. His nurse is in with her other patient; I'll go let her know."
Her shoulders relaxed almost imperceptibly, but then tensed up again as she looked back at him lying in the bed. She started wringing her hands and talking defensively. "I don't usually panic like this, it really does take a lot to..."
I put my hand on her shoulder as I interrupted her.
"But he's your husband."
I don't know what she was expecting me to say, but it wasn't that. Her face showed a split-second of surprise before her shoulders relaxed entirely. I don't know how to describe it except to say that every feature of her face soon followed in a display of utter and complete relief.
"Yes," she nodded. "He's my husband. Thank you for saying that."
Sometimes we take care of the families, too.
Progress Notes
We had a wife a while back who almost demanded her husband be left on the ventilator because the weaning stressed her out so much.
One of the RT's was wise enough to gently turn her focus into that of being a 'get off the vent' coach for the husband.
added by beajerry on June 27, 2007 8:37 AM
"All illnesses are family illnesses."
I do not remember where I first picked that up.
added by shrimplate on July 1, 2007 10:43 AM
i have never been confined in a hospital before, not in my entire life. and i'm not looking forward to. oh please spare. but i have been in hospitals many times that is for me to work with the confined patients. deal with different crazy lunatic people around and not having lunch nor go to the restroom. oh how i love to be in hospitals!
added by lei on September 11, 2007 9:12 AM
So, what brought you to the hospital today?