My patient’s daughter had been up all night in the ED with her mother and by now it was just after noon. She was very tired. Nonetheless, I needed to find her to ask an important question.
I got to the waiting room and found approximately 10 family members, but not the daughter. I asked where she was.
“We aren’t really sure.”
I thought this was a strange response. Not only was she a nurse, but the person I wanted to speak with knew the patient best out of everyone there. She just wasn’t the kind of person who took off without telling anyone where she was going.
“Ok… ?” Then I just stared at them all, because sometimes that will elicit more of a response. People don’t like being stared at blankly.
“The doctor told us that he took her somewhere to rest, but he said that we had to leave her alone, and he wouldn’t tell us where he took her.”
Hearing “we think she ran off to join the circus” would have been only slightly more surprising.
I went back to the nurse’s station and related my story to some other nurses working with me that day. We were all quite puzzled and just a tiny bit amused. As it happened, the doctor in question showed up at the desk and I told him that I had something important to discuss with the patient’s daughter and would he mind, please, letting me know where he stashed her?
He said he would not do that. He said she was tired and stressed by her mother’s condition and needed rest.
Well, yeah, but I really needed to know if the patient had had the flu shot this season, lest I be reprimanded over not providing a complete admission record. (Not really, but I did need to know something rather important.)
He said she’d be there in a little while. About half an hour later she appeared in her mother’s room.
Her family thanked me profusely for “finding her.”
I am Gina. I have been a nurse for 15 years, first in med/surg, then CVICU, inpatient dialysis, CCU and now hospice. This blog is about my experiences as a nurse, and the experiences of others in the healthcare system - patients, nurses, doctors, paramedics. We all have stories!
Comments
I bet that night shift would like to know where that secret sleeping area is!
added by Donna on 04.22.10 4:41 am | Permalink
lol!!
added by charissa on 04.23.10 12:04 pm | Permalink
Wow! That Doc sounds like one very caring guy! Not! Weird, Weird, Weird!
added by Sharon Longfellow on 04.27.10 8:45 am | Permalink
[...] – this is too funny! Gina at Code Blog recalls a tale of medicine and kidnapping in The Kidnapped Napper. Wish I had someone to kidnap me like [...]
added by Change of Shift – Vol. 4, Number 21 // Emergiblog on 04.29.10 3:07 pm | Permalink
Good writing, you! Your prose rocks! Good job! You’re scaring the shit outta me (grad nurse – three months into looking for his first nursing job…)
Be well…
added by Steph on 05.13.10 11:15 am | Permalink
Oh! I better search for that secret sleeping area too(kidding)…or else kidnap the doctor…lol
added by Michelle on 05.14.10 11:12 am | Permalink
Somewhat odd, yes, but I can see the need for family members to rest, esp. if they are the glue holding things together. Even more bizarre: the physician’s response. What, you’re three years-old and can’t be trusted with sensitive information?
added by TorontoEmerg on 05.28.10 9:24 pm | Permalink
I agree, it sounds a little creepy to me. Who takes a kid to a secret sleepping area? LOL
added by Sarah on 06.01.10 4:52 pm | Permalink
I didn’t realize that staring at people was an effective interrogation method. Thanks for the information
added by Jules Brown on 06.02.10 12:00 pm | Permalink
Sarah – it wasn’t a kid, it was a grown woman!
added by geena on 06.02.10 12:19 pm | Permalink
You’re welcome. :)
added by geena on 06.02.10 12:23 pm | Permalink
hahaha, is that really a doctor?
But a thumb -up for you.
added by aries on 06.05.10 2:16 am | Permalink
“I didn’t realize that staring at people was an effective interrogation method. Thanks for the information”
Haha, me too, I mean I guess reading it made me realize that in certain situations, that blank stare can get across the message of “Seriously? You don’t know?” haha thanks.
added by Wayne on 06.05.10 4:28 am | Permalink
The patient just needed a real rest.. Away from stress, stimuli, and interview..
Nice Blog..
Cheers!
added by PinoyNurses101 on 06.17.10 2:04 pm | Permalink
Ok, that’s a pretty odd thing to have happen. It almost boarders on creepy lol!
added by WildKat on 08.31.10 11:00 pm | Permalink
I am agreeing with the creepy comments. Since the daughter was a nurse, maybe they knew each other clinically. WINK! WINK!
added by Brandi on 11.16.10 1:12 pm | Permalink
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