I wrote this several days ago, maybe weeks, I am behind putting them up so there might be several days blasted with updates and blogs which are longer.
When did I book the trip on this insane train? I was enjoying some computer games when I heard some thunder . Shortly after that it began to rain, I mean POUR! I am hearing radio traffic like crazy, police, city crews, sheriff's department, Department of Transportation, WATER IS EVERYWHERE, and the highways are even impassable and are close to traffic. 1 hour later, I get a call from work, They need me in for a transfer of a critical patient, and we are taking a nurse. I tell them I will do my best to get there. My street has a few places where water is running over the road, I go a few blocks and then find more water. I have never seen this much water standing and moving, at least not here! There is a stress you have to deal with in this situation, you have to worry your vehicle will be carried by the water as you go through the water, you have to think, Will I make it? Will I stall? Will I meet someone and have to go to the invisible edge of the road? Will I be able to stop when I do need to? They say that it only takes 6 inches of fast moving water to displace a car and pull it off the road.
I made it to work in about 10-15 minutes of the required 30 minute max. It looks like a show out front, as employees are watching traffic test the deep waters. I clock in and we get started, we go to get the patient, it is no problem. The patient is getting blood that is why we are taking a nurse. We jump into the truck and then we rolled through the rain flooded hospital parking lot and roads. We make it to the highway and it is all clear of water. The patient makes it all is done. We arrived back and the water had subsided with the leftovers of flooding, including grass and debris. I clock out and head home for a few hours of sleep. I slept about 5 hours then came back. I was feeling pretty rested considering, I guess the 2 days off helped though.
Where should I begin? Well I can't remember where I last left off, and my paper I wrote last night is at home. We were called to a local nursing home, yea, not really all exciting. Yah right, a woman who had fallen 4 hours earlier. It seems a staff member was assisting to pivot the person from a wheelchair and then into bed, the staff member lost her footing and had to lay the patient into the floor, so evidently she slid the woman down her leg instead of just dropping her. She then complained of "Lung Pain", on the right side. We arrive and decide since this is possibly back pain, we should collar and backboard her. We do it. The patient does have a small knot to the Right side of the spine. I listen to lung sounds when we get back into the truck, I despise having to wait in the nursing facility doing my assessment in front of people who claim to be nursing professionals, who in my opinion are only there because it pays more and they couldn't cut it in real life nursing. I make the patient take a deep breath, she has good lung sounds in all fields. She doesn't complain of any pain at all. This is going to be a BLS call, so I handle it. We drop her off at the ER, they have us transport her back to the home later, she has 2-3 rib fractures on the right side. That could make you have lung pain. I missed that in my assessment, but then again, why would I palpate the rib cage? I suppose I might if I was further away from the hospital. I guess you get blinders on seeing the same old stuff and quit looking around for things. I don't beat myself up like I used to. I guess now it has became a job instead of a passion to help people. In just a few years, I have found myself burnt out already.
We run another call to a nursing home for a shortness of breath, this one will assure the medic a report to write. We roll hot (lights and sirens) and arrive on scene we enter the building to the smell of terrible fecal matter......UGH. The staff state the patient is short of breath, she had vomited, and then her oxygen saturations were in the 80's and she sounded full. We get into the room and they have the patient sitting up and her on oxygen, running it at least 10-12 L by a non re-breather mask. I was proud, they actually put some oxygen on and ran it at the right amount. It looks like we were movie stars the way staff were gathered around waiting for us to arrive. We load the patient and do a 12-lead EKG, and get an IV established in the truck. We roll to the hospital hot. We arrive at the ER the nurse tells us the patient is a DNR (Do Not resuscitate) Our papers said FULL CODE, well it appears the family has no official documents but they want nothing beyond the oxygen and medications, NO CPR or Intubation. Not like it made a difference, but it could have. Lungs, sound clear to me, but my partner hears something, The hospital drew labs, and did x-rays. They first found pneumonia, then found out the cardiac lab markers were high, meaning she had a heart attack, then they found an elevated BNP - (b-type natriuretic peptide) a study for left sided heart failure which causes fluid build up in the lungs and heart also known as CHF- Congestive Heart Failure. That is some illness to fight, all those at once. I have to stay over because my relief has over slept, not big deal, 1/2 hour, I wasn't really all that tired anyways. I didn't have to go on a call or do any paperwork so no biggie.
Note of advisement: GET THE PAPERS SIGNED, if you want to be a DNR get your doctor to sign the paperwork and then get your family so they know your wishes, don't let them change their mind and make EMS or the ER do CPR on you if you don't want it. I have also heard about someone wanting DNR tattooed on their chest, without the papers it means nothing. The new form is a cherry colored at least here!
When did I book the trip on this insane train? I was enjoying some computer games when I heard some thunder . Shortly after that it began to rain, I mean POUR! I am hearing radio traffic like crazy, police, city crews, sheriff's department, Department of Transportation, WATER IS EVERYWHERE, and the highways are even impassable and are close to traffic. 1 hour later, I get a call from work, They need me in for a transfer of a critical patient, and we are taking a nurse. I tell them I will do my best to get there. My street has a few places where water is running over the road, I go a few blocks and then find more water. I have never seen this much water standing and moving, at least not here! There is a stress you have to deal with in this situation, you have to worry your vehicle will be carried by the water as you go through the water, you have to think, Will I make it? Will I stall? Will I meet someone and have to go to the invisible edge of the road? Will I be able to stop when I do need to? They say that it only takes 6 inches of fast moving water to displace a car and pull it off the road.
I made it to work in about 10-15 minutes of the required 30 minute max. It looks like a show out front, as employees are watching traffic test the deep waters. I clock in and we get started, we go to get the patient, it is no problem. The patient is getting blood that is why we are taking a nurse. We jump into the truck and then we rolled through the rain flooded hospital parking lot and roads. We make it to the highway and it is all clear of water. The patient makes it all is done. We arrived back and the water had subsided with the leftovers of flooding, including grass and debris. I clock out and head home for a few hours of sleep. I slept about 5 hours then came back. I was feeling pretty rested considering, I guess the 2 days off helped though.
Where should I begin? Well I can't remember where I last left off, and my paper I wrote last night is at home. We were called to a local nursing home, yea, not really all exciting. Yah right, a woman who had fallen 4 hours earlier. It seems a staff member was assisting to pivot the person from a wheelchair and then into bed, the staff member lost her footing and had to lay the patient into the floor, so evidently she slid the woman down her leg instead of just dropping her. She then complained of "Lung Pain", on the right side. We arrive and decide since this is possibly back pain, we should collar and backboard her. We do it. The patient does have a small knot to the Right side of the spine. I listen to lung sounds when we get back into the truck, I despise having to wait in the nursing facility doing my assessment in front of people who claim to be nursing professionals, who in my opinion are only there because it pays more and they couldn't cut it in real life nursing. I make the patient take a deep breath, she has good lung sounds in all fields. She doesn't complain of any pain at all. This is going to be a BLS call, so I handle it. We drop her off at the ER, they have us transport her back to the home later, she has 2-3 rib fractures on the right side. That could make you have lung pain. I missed that in my assessment, but then again, why would I palpate the rib cage? I suppose I might if I was further away from the hospital. I guess you get blinders on seeing the same old stuff and quit looking around for things. I don't beat myself up like I used to. I guess now it has became a job instead of a passion to help people. In just a few years, I have found myself burnt out already.
We run another call to a nursing home for a shortness of breath, this one will assure the medic a report to write. We roll hot (lights and sirens) and arrive on scene we enter the building to the smell of terrible fecal matter......UGH. The staff state the patient is short of breath, she had vomited, and then her oxygen saturations were in the 80's and she sounded full. We get into the room and they have the patient sitting up and her on oxygen, running it at least 10-12 L by a non re-breather mask. I was proud, they actually put some oxygen on and ran it at the right amount. It looks like we were movie stars the way staff were gathered around waiting for us to arrive. We load the patient and do a 12-lead EKG, and get an IV established in the truck. We roll to the hospital hot. We arrive at the ER the nurse tells us the patient is a DNR (Do Not resuscitate) Our papers said FULL CODE, well it appears the family has no official documents but they want nothing beyond the oxygen and medications, NO CPR or Intubation. Not like it made a difference, but it could have. Lungs, sound clear to me, but my partner hears something, The hospital drew labs, and did x-rays. They first found pneumonia, then found out the cardiac lab markers were high, meaning she had a heart attack, then they found an elevated BNP - (b-type natriuretic peptide) a study for left sided heart failure which causes fluid build up in the lungs and heart also known as CHF- Congestive Heart Failure. That is some illness to fight, all those at once. I have to stay over because my relief has over slept, not big deal, 1/2 hour, I wasn't really all that tired anyways. I didn't have to go on a call or do any paperwork so no biggie.
Note of advisement: GET THE PAPERS SIGNED, if you want to be a DNR get your doctor to sign the paperwork and then get your family so they know your wishes, don't let them change their mind and make EMS or the ER do CPR on you if you don't want it. I have also heard about someone wanting DNR tattooed on their chest, without the papers it means nothing. The new form is a cherry colored at least here!