I think Oprah gave my patient tachycardia

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Specializes in ICU, CV, Occ Health.

I'm not trying to make Oprah look bad first of all. I had a patient recently who was admitted for A-fib with RVR. When they arrived on the unit their HR was in the 130s-140's. After Lopressor and Digoxin their HR decreased to 60s-70s but still A-fib. The following day, I recieved word from microbiology that my patient was positive for MRSA in the nose. I discussed MRSA with my patient, provided the hospital's written information and explained the reason for the need to use contact precautions. I answered all my patient's questions and hoped that she would let me know if they had any questions or concerns.

Then Oprah came on a few minutes later and guess what the topic of discussion was? MRSA. My patient wanted to watch the show so i encouraged her to ask me any questions she had about anything she heard on the show about MRSA. Then promptly at 5:00 pm, when the show ended, my patient's HR increased to 120s-130's and got as high as 140 at one time. Her BP went up too, to 166/75 and keep increasing for the next hour and a half.

I went in to asses my patient and they said to me "I'm really worried about this MRSA thing I have". We discussed MRSA again and I tried to reassure my patient that MRSA was in her nose, not her blood stream. Anyway, i am not sure if my education wasn't good enough, if Oprah really worried her that much, or if she was going to get tachy again anyway (she had orders to transfer to tele before this incident). The thing is, my patient was calm the entire time, she just expressed her concerns to me verbally. Any thoughts from seasoned CCU nurses?

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Long ago, when I was but a nursing newby, the television was only allowed to some CCU patients. It was limited, in addition to visitors, ambulation, or anything that could exacerbate the cardiac irregularity.

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Specializes in ICU, CVICU.

Haha! That episode was on when I was working the other day and it was freaking my pt's family out! They were asking me about MRSA and necrotizing fasciitis. I told them to turn of the TV - that's like watching a movie about plane crashes on a transcontinental flight!

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

Reminds me of the time I arrived at work in L&D to find a patient watching a show (I think it wa Oprah.) on "bad babies."

I matter-of-factly informed the patient and her husband that we would not be watching that episode, and turned off the TV.

We had a peaceful shift and a healthy baby.

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Specializes in ICU,CCU, MICU, SICU, CVICU, CTSICU,ER.

perhaps this would have happened anyway? How many times have our pts families freaked out over their loved ones receiving propofol? It is possible to get so worked up-even if you don't show it-that your physiological response can go haywire in the right conditions--say pre-excited and irritable cardiac cells.

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