You know when you have "one of those days" where all that can happen does, well that was my yesterday. After a fairly average start, where the alarm goes off and you cant believe you actually got any sleep, to chasing stuff up that someone else puts in the too hard basket, which is not on in an icu.
Waddya mean you couldnt get bloods done, there is a whopping vein right here, i point to spot, oh you had to peel back some plastic, oh i forgot, you work as a blood collector.
That was about 7.30am, it didnt get much better, pt slipping into a worsening medical condition, trying to pump in as much drugs as her ailing heart would allow to keep her lungs from filling up, with moderate amount of success over next few hours.
15.30 now breathing and not drowning, good.
Just getting on top of things, when first code went off, so off we run at a rate that had me more hypoxic than the pt we were called to, and was successfully transferred to the unit and now breathing assisted by ventilator- pt not me. Poor guy had a gut looking like he was having a baby cow, no gastric tube and on the ward for 2 weeks filling up, prob had no lung space left to breath with, so now has tube, both ends, yay.
Running again, except we realised whilst running we had no crash cart. crap. yelling at student, poor love, to get the crash cart, but it ended up the pt was unconscious but still had a pulse, just not breathing to well.
Alcohol and drugs, what a surprise. The driver who brought her in didnt see the rather large emergency sign brightly lit in red at the front and instead drove around to the desk for admissions, of course.
That when we are supposed to finish. The doc and i looked at eachother and laughed, as code 3 was announced, thank god night staff were here!
pt = patient.
2 comments:
Sounds like a hard but rewarding day.
cheers
Helen
and to think, you are inbetween moons too.
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