"You're going to have an ICU transfer as a patient today. Patient is not here yet. You can practice accepting an ICU transfer. Also, a patient that will probably be a CAT call (rapid response team)."
my response: "Wait...those are two separate patients?"
I was frightened.
However, despite the day that you can only imagine that might have entailed, one funny/interesting moment did arise from it:
my patient (the ICU transfer, actually) was originally sent down to the ICU due to extreme lethargy and not being arousable. However, his status improved greatly and was able to be sent back up to us a couple days later. Meanwhile, the ICU nurse told me he didn't get much sleep last night (big surprise for the ICU) and that he would probably be tired. So I had to play the fine line game of: Do I let my patient sleep today, or do I continuously awaken him to see if he's lethargic? And if he IS lethargic, is it because he's just really, really tired, or is it because something is wrong?
It turned out that he had so much going on with his medical care today (IVs, lots of meds, assessments, etc. in addition to normal stuff -mealtimes, bathroom times, etc.-) that I ended up waking him up every hour practically anyway.
Well, waking him up for dinner was after a period where he was able to have slept the longest for me (about 90 minutes). So this is what went down:
Me: Mr. Patient? Mr. Patient?
pt: *wakes up*
Me: HI mr. Patient. Sorry to have woken you. Your dinner is here for you.
Pt: Oh okay. Good. * pt sits up in bed to get ready to eat tray*
*I start getting tray prepared and he starts mumbling nonsensical words strung together. I am instantly concerned.
Me: Mr.Patient? Can you repeat that? I can't hear you.
Pt: *pt continues to mumble*
* I am legit concerned now and instantly start going through a very simple mental assessment*....
Me: Mr. Patient- Can you tell me your name?
Pt: yes. Its Ima Patient
Me: Okay, good. Can you tell me where you are?
Pt: In Suchagood Hospital
Me: Okay good. Can you tell me what day it is?
Pt: Friday.
Me: How about the month?
Pt: November.
Me: Good. (However, I'm still not convinced, because he just *looks* confused)
Me: Mr. Patient, can you tell me who the president is?
*patient nods*: Yes. Oswald.
Me: Excuse me?
Pt: Oswald.
Me: Mr. Patient, can you tell me what year it is?
Pt: 2011.
Me: Okay good. And who is the president right now, in 2011?
Pt: Oswald.
Me: Not quite....Can you describe him for me?
Pt: Um...He's african american...young fellow.
(at this point I at least knew we were on the same page. Sort of. So I quit.)
Eventually, after being awake for 5+ minutes, he started to go back to normal and was able to recall being confused but didnt know why. But, all turned out well. And Oswald is not the president.
For those of you that don't watch Nick Jr. while you babysit, let me demonstrate the first thing that shows up if you type in Oswald to Google images:
Its a blue octopus.
Need I say more?
~ WNB :)
.
2 comments:
Hahahahaha I've heard Obama called lots of things, and Oswald is not one of them ;)
hahaha same!!!! It was definitely a first!
Post a Comment