A mean ole demented resident & I saved a life Friday..my sweet story of the day.

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.

Meet "Mrs Smith" 80 year old, demented, borders on being grouchy, the kind ya approach slow and try to keep the other demented residents away from so she doesn't get ticked off by accident. We all have someone just like this.

Meet "Mr Brown" 80 year old, also demented, but charming little guy. Currently being treated with pneumonia for past several days.

Me, the ADON, just passing thru the unit to get a chart for review. Unit nurses sitting right there at the desk. As I'm passing by, I catch out of the corner of my eye, Mrs. Smith sweetly holding and rubbing Mr. Browns hand. She looks at me and says "Can you help him, he is so sick". She looks so darn cute for a change that it causes me to stop and chat with her. Well I look over at Mr. Brown & was going to reassure them both that he was ok, but then I think to myself.."Well crap, he really doesn't look so good". I turn around and ask his nurse when was the last time he had any labs drawn. She replied he had had some done yesterday & everything was OK. I ask to see the chart & she hands it to me assuring me that "his BUN is completely normal" Long story short, the poor guy's sodium was 155! Nurses claim Dr. is aware, but I insist they call him again immediately and request some further treatment. Dr called and resident was shipped out for IV fluids.

Moving forward to today. Mr. Brown's MD into the facility, reports he is doing much better. Informs me that unit nurses informed him I was being pushy about making them call him STAT last week. MD tells me "If you hadn't caught that and been pushy he would have been dead by Saturday morning. You saved his life. Good catch".

I can't help that think that grouchy "Mrs. Smith" saved his life by having a moment of being so darned cute.

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P.S. Please don't ruin my happy moment by griping that the unit nurse should have done more & done it sooner. I completely get that & we have education in place to enlighten their understanding of lab levels.

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Specializes in LTC, ER, ICU, Psych, Med-surg...etc....

You rock!

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Awwww . . . .I love stories like this.

Trust the "hinky" feeling . . . and the old people. :coollook:

steph

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

Great story!...how come you're not doing IV fluids in house?

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.
Great story!...how come you're not doing IV fluids in house?

We tried to talk MD into when we called. MD told me Monday that since the guy really is a little man, he was to afraid he would convert to fluid overload with IV fluids & was unsure it would get recognized in time on a Saturday. But that's a whole other battle to face. Yikes! It really is a shame that some days I feel like I have to re-teach nursing school to some & remind them they are not just robots just passing meds. I'm sure it's something we all deal with.

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Um, yeah....when people start acting nice, I wonder too. LOL. Good catch and good work being an advocate!!

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