Stevielynn's thread about the nursing home with the signs on the food carts brings up (oops, no pun intended:D ) something that happened at work yesterday that turned even MY cast-iron stomach. I was the PRN helping with admits, and as I was charting vitals on one new pt., this lady came running up to me holding a patient gown literally dripping with fresh emesis and hollering that her mother was throwing up, and would I come quickly?
I followed her to the patient's room (even after she refused to give me the gown so I could deposit it in the linen barrel and NOT have a trail of slightly used vegetable soup running down the hall) and found a very confused elderly woman sitting up in bed, naked, with vomit EVERYWHERE--all over the bed, on the floor, even in her hair. Worse yet, she was just about to start eating again, apparently having already forgotten being sick, and seemingly unaware of the fact that she'd baptized the tray along with everything else!!
Well, it was all I could do to hang onto my own supper, and I had no choice but to deal with it alone because even the aides were too busy with vitals on the fresh post-ops we'd just gotten. Half an hour later I emerged from the room, smelling ghastly and feeling somewhat under the weather, but by gosh that little lady was nice and clean and her daughter pleased as punch with the service. At least I got a thank-you out of it.....but I hope I don't have to deal with anything like that again any time soon.
