Hello!
I'm a new nurse in LTC and I would like some clarification from experienced nurses.
My question is at what point would you make a call to send a LTC patient to the hospital?
I'm asking this question because recently a patient who is normally independent started to present S&S of a stroke- favouring one side, drooping extremities and facial expressions to the left. Febrile at 38.9 (sorry I'm in Canada I think that equates to 102), BP 205/109. Patient's baseline BP normally ranges from 90/50-100/60. They went from being able to speak coherently to basically babbling on about nothing.
I notified the charge nurse who basically shrugged their shoulders and told me to get the personal support workers to put them to bed. The patient is a DNR with measures to send to hospital. This infuriated me as the change in health status was so severe. I could be over reacting as this nurse has more experience and has dealt with this before, but I just felt this patient should have been sent to the hospital.
In the past few days the patient went from walking to a complete hoyer lift and unable to do much of anything and to my knowledge the doctor hasn't been notified of the change in health status.
I know in LTC this is a slippery slope but I was just surprised and I am very new and inexperienced at what point you make the call to send a LTC patient tot he hospital?
I know each situation is very different and it depends on their DNR status, etc. Just looking for a bit of advice!
Thank-you in advance :)