Today it was very busy in ICU medicine. Lots of sick & dying patients. A patient in the corridor who had a stroke and was in a coma happened to be the father of someone my assistant knows. One of the relatives had put a spoon into his mouth to stop him biting his tongue.
I tried to explain that this was dangerous & could potential damage & cause aspiration of his teeth - I was (as usual) ignored.
My WPW patient is back - that's another blog - and the staff were being at best obstructive. For example the one good nurse was preparing the drug infusion to give to her & I needed help getting oxygen and the 3 nurses sat watching TV in the staff room shouted aggressively that they were too busy to help. I have grown accustomed to this hostile/lazy/uncaring attitude so shrugged & struggled on myself until the chief of ward - too scared to manage his staff helped me.
In an attempt to save my patient the deputy director (my friend & psychiatrist) suggested we see if any of the defibs the hospital has had been fixed. This involved an anaesthetic nurse showing me where they were locked up. We went via ICU so I could check on my patient & he noticed the man in the corridor with the now broken teeth & partially obstructed airway. I explained to him I had tried to stop them using a spoon. What about a OPA (oral pharyngeal airway)? he naively asked - only available in the operating theatre I explained, not on the wards.
We went to see the defibs - all were not working.
I went back to check on my WPW patient & as I was leaving the ward I found the anaesthetic nurse was with the stroke patient in the corridor putting in a OPA and explaining to his family to nurse him on his side to let secretions drain. He looked a bit sheepish when he realised I had seen him.
As he left the ward I intercepted him. I had goosebumps from seeing this rare random act of kindness.
"Thank you" I told him, "Today you give me hope. You have shown compassion & cared for a patient. I see that so rarely I sometimes lose faith that things will ever change here. So thank you for showing me I am wrong"
He shrugged, smiled, patted me on the arm & walked back to theatres.
I tried to explain that this was dangerous & could potential damage & cause aspiration of his teeth - I was (as usual) ignored.
My WPW patient is back - that's another blog - and the staff were being at best obstructive. For example the one good nurse was preparing the drug infusion to give to her & I needed help getting oxygen and the 3 nurses sat watching TV in the staff room shouted aggressively that they were too busy to help. I have grown accustomed to this hostile/lazy/uncaring attitude so shrugged & struggled on myself until the chief of ward - too scared to manage his staff helped me.
In an attempt to save my patient the deputy director (my friend & psychiatrist) suggested we see if any of the defibs the hospital has had been fixed. This involved an anaesthetic nurse showing me where they were locked up. We went via ICU so I could check on my patient & he noticed the man in the corridor with the now broken teeth & partially obstructed airway. I explained to him I had tried to stop them using a spoon. What about a OPA (oral pharyngeal airway)? he naively asked - only available in the operating theatre I explained, not on the wards.
We went to see the defibs - all were not working.
I went back to check on my WPW patient & as I was leaving the ward I found the anaesthetic nurse was with the stroke patient in the corridor putting in a OPA and explaining to his family to nurse him on his side to let secretions drain. He looked a bit sheepish when he realised I had seen him.
As he left the ward I intercepted him. I had goosebumps from seeing this rare random act of kindness.
"Thank you" I told him, "Today you give me hope. You have shown compassion & cared for a patient. I see that so rarely I sometimes lose faith that things will ever change here. So thank you for showing me I am wrong"
He shrugged, smiled, patted me on the arm & walked back to theatres.
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