Lucky he was constipated, or he'd be dead

Nurses General Nursing

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After lurking on this site for years I just joined last week, and I have to say, you guys tell the best stories!!!

So, I'm wondering: Has anybody had patients who probably would have died if they didn't happen to be in the hospital for a completely unrelated complaint?

Had an elderly patient years ago in the ED to rule out small bowel obstruction. Came from a nursing home, had a 'touch' of pneumonia (whatever that means) for which he was already taking antibiotics. X-rays showed that his 'bowel obstruction' was simply constipation and gas. About to get discharged, waiting for transportation back to the facility, hanging out eating a ham sandwich, and BAM, he codes.

After twenty minutes of resuscitation, he's up to the ICU. Apparently he had a systemic inflammatory response related to his pneumonia. The poor resident nearly wet himself, and kept saying over and over, "I don't know how I missed it!" Not sure if the patient ever made it home, but I'm certain that he wouldn't have survived if he hadn't coincidentally been in the ED with bad gas! Blows my mind to this day.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Oncology.

Crazy! We had a patient a few weeks ago who came into the ER with complaints of a shoulder injury who ended up having a STEMI.

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Not a situation where someone would have died but....Had someone in for pneumonia, the admitting nurse was checking over the patients skin for any signs of breakdown to be recorded, found a lump in their breast. MD made aware. Not sure where it went as I didn't care for that patient, but, the patient sure was grateful stating she wasn't so sure she would have found that herself so early and is sure that was something new.

Whether it turned out to be anything or not, I'd say they were lucky it was found so if needed early treatment could have been initiated.

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My dad was admitted for pneumonia and had his AAA dissect right after admission. We also had a person from our area in for some sort of a routine work-up (I don't remember what exactly the deal was, but I do remember it was just something like a routine physical) and had an MI while there.

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Not a situation where someone would have died but....Had someone in for pneumonia, the admitting nurse was checking over the patients skin for any signs of breakdown to be recorded, found a lump in their breast. MD made aware. Not sure where it went as I didn't care for that patient, but, the patient sure was grateful stating she wasn't so sure she would have found that herself so early and is sure that was something new.

Whether it turned out to be anything or not, I'd say they were lucky it was found so if needed early treatment could have been initiated.

That's some pretty awesome, committed skin assessment. Nurses the rescue!

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My dad was admitted for pneumonia and had his AAA dissect right after admission. We also had a person from our area in for some sort of a routine work-up (I don't remember what exactly the deal was, but I do remember it was just something like a routine physical) and had an MI while there.

Holy smokes, on both counts!! Especially in the case of AAA--I hope your dad is doing ok!

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

Kid came in with coughing, found a pneumothorax-VSS during the whole situation. :blink:

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Specializes in Emergency.

Yeah, happens a lot. We call it " oh, by the way" in my facility. Always a head shaker.

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Yeah, happens a lot. We call it " oh, by the way" in my facility. Always a head shaker.

Hah, I always thought of "Oh, by the way-s" as people who come into the ED for something quasi-legit, and "oh by the way," while I'm here, can't you treat my depression, back pain, and dental issues?

Like this episode of Parks and Rec:

Ann Perkins, RN: "What's wrong, Andy?"

Andy Dwyer: "Just got a headache, and I'm seeing double. And I've got a song stuck in my head, and my teeth hurt. I've got a weird rash in my knee pit, area. And my tongue, on this side, doesn't taste anything anymore. Sometimes when I walk my ankles make like a weird rattle. snake. sound. Things that are far away from my eyes are fuzzy. I once ate a Twix with the wrapper on it, and I've never seen the wrapper come out. Also I've swallowed every piece of gum that I've chewed for the past twenty-five years. Also, I'm...hungry."

Ann Perkins, RN: "Well some of those are symptoms, and some of those are just being a person."

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Specializes in Oncology.

I had a patient we coded awhile ago who was an overnight obs after a routine surgery. He had a widow maker and the surgery was enough to make that the night it came to head. We got him back. He got his heart cath. He was made hypothermic for a bit. Walked out three weeks later.

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When I worked the floor I used to get a lot of patients who would come in for something random, and find out they were in DKA.

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Specializes in nurseline,med surg, PD.

Well, my mom went to the ER one day with a severe headache, and found out she had a brain tumor.

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