Ever had 2 pts die on you in 1 day?

minneRN · Dec 9, 2004

WOW!!!! That really takes the cake when it comes to "having a bad day". Thank God it's over!!! Working in the ICU can be sooooooooo bad, stressful, and downright horrible sometimes, but its also challenging and at least you can say that there's not a dull moment that goes by. I applaud you my friend for hanging in there....Hope you have a better shift tomorrow!:)

I've been interning in the ICU for less than a month and a double whammy like this is something I wasn't prepared for today. The first pt was a guy who got hit off his motorcycle by a speeding car. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't wearing any protective headgear and he landed head-first on a concrete pavement. Shame, shame. He was a pretty young fella, too. He was allready hangin by a thread when they sent him up from the OR, and he passed a few hours after he came to the unit.
The other case was an older adult who had been admitted many times before for FTT. This man lives with a wife who claims to "take very good care of him", but he was in extremely bad shape: very badly malnourished and dehydrated with severe electrolyte imblances. The man's thigh's were as thin as a wrist, and he had decubs developing in a lot of the bony prominences. Worst of all, he had a hx of cardiac problems and he also had a DNR so you can already see where this is going with the K+ imbalance. We were trying to bring him up a bit with IV fluids with Kcl, and the doc had to get pretty aggressive with the therapy but the pt just wasn't responding to it at all.
It was real drag doing post mortem care. One one hand we're trying to calm down hysterical family members who want to spend time with the body, and on the other hand the charge nurse is whispering to ask if could try to move things along because they need the beds for other patients. Our ICU was really hoppin' today. Almost half the pt's were sent down to tele to make room for new admits.

zenman · Dec 9, 2004

I've seen both patients in a semi private room code and die on the same shift. Same nurse had both patients. No funny business; it just happened!

lsyorke, RN · Dec 9, 2004

I had 3 in one shift die. All DNR's within 2 hours of each other. Very bizarre night.

Q. · Dec 9, 2004

I haven't had two patients die in one night, but I did have an admission of a 25 y/o primip (first time mom) admitted for premature rupture of membranes at 18 weeks. She was brought in from her own baby shower - lost the baby upon admission. I remember seeing her crushed corsage on the floor that had fallen off when the EMTs brought it up.

That same shift, another mom was admitted with her 6th pregnancy; she had delivered her baby in the toilet, covered in meconium and didn't want to call the EMTs because she was expecting her friends to arrive for a party. The baby sat in the toilet, cord attached and placenta expelled, for over an hour. He survived.

ERNurse752, RN · Dec 9, 2004

My first ever night shift as an RN in the ER, I lost 2 pts. Got me the nickname Angel of Death for quite a while.

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Dec 9, 2004

The baby sat in the toilet, cord attached and placenta expelled, for over an hour. He survived.

My jaw is really on the floor now, Q! That's a miracle baby for sure! (Please tell me that the mother did not get custody....)

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Dec 9, 2004

I've been interning in the ICU for less than a month

Tony, all I can say is that shifts like you had are extremely rare. So sorry it was so bad.

SmilingBluEyes · Dec 9, 2004

You know, I can't say I have, thankfully. In OB, two patients dying in one night would be beyond tragic. ONE death is unacceptable and heartbreaking. Two unthinkable......

The most tragic death I saw was when a diabetic mom in severe ketoacidosis was brought in very "out of it" due to her condition, her sugars were out of sight, respers were 40-50 per minute, it was all she could do to breathe..............well, this episode cost her the 40- week fetus--- (yes, a fullterm 8 lb baby)---- she carried. Saddest was, she was so out of it, when she gave birth to the baby, she did not know for 24 hours she HAD given birth, only to find out the baby was dead when she arrived. That was probably the most horrible case I have seen in 7 years. The grief-stricken screams of her family haunt me forever.

The deaths we see in OB are NOT considered natural or normal, is what I am getting at.

I am sorry this happened to you....any death is hard to take for any nurse...two must be just horrible. My heart goes out to you, and the families who lost loved ones that day.

Jay-Jay, RN · Dec 9, 2004

That's a shame about having to rush the grieving family! The first thing they tell the families in palliative care (which is where my sweetie passed away) is "Take all the time you want." None of the staff goes near the body until all family members have left.

But I can certainly understand it being different in ICU on a busy night...

P_RN, ADN, RN · Dec 9, 2004

Yes I've had 2 or more in the same shift...what's more in the same room, in the same bed.

1) in Bed A preparing to go home after anembolization of a tumor....PE and died.

2) in Bed B returned from testicle removal surgery died within the hour. I never did find our what happened.

3) In Bed B room now empty we admitted a lady with a gastric bypass who thought she's speed things up by fasting. She got so weak she drank 2000cc of water and other liquids and tore the fixation leading to peritonitis. She slipped away while we coded for all we were worth. It was a terrible situation that still haunts me at times.

I know that room had bad vibes or karma or whatever. More things happened there than any other.

Limik · Dec 9, 2004

I lost two patients in one day while I was still a nursing student. One of my patients was expected to pass, but the second was relatively stable and died suddenly. I remember that being a very hard day for me. My instructor asked me if I planned to quit after that but honestly that never entered my mind. Keep up the faith and remember that you won't always have days like this (thank goodness!) :uhoh3: