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The family member who "works in the medical field" (read: works in housekeeping in a nursing home) demanding that I call the cath lab and find out what's taking them so long because "my mother needs to eat."
My hospice patient starting to turn a lovely shade of grey/purple just after giving the latest scheduled dose of Morphine and Ativan...oh wait that's already happened that week. I went to pass my next patient's meds and suddenly call light goes off in hospice room and the family was asking why he was so quiet. I was praying that I measured correctly and that he really was that ready to pass over and that I didn't just help him along. That and I had to manually attempt to take vital signs even though I knew he was gone since his agonal breathing was loud enough to peel paint off the walls and he was now silent.
The family was asking me to do something for him. So I rearranged his blankets to cover him better and got my manager to confirm that he was gone before removing his Venturi Mask and turning off the O2 concentrator so the family could have quiet time. Then I called hospice and the mortuary. The family that was there was looking for me to do something else...she spent 20 minutes asking me to put his O2 back on and turn it up maybe he'd start looking better. My first death on duty but with all the hospice patients we have right now it won't be my last.
jennylysmileA
5 Posts
Him/her on the floor.