felltoddman

I used to work in a cardiovascular outpatient unit where one of the procedures done called a Tilt Table Test. We would use the tilt table to stand them up about 70 degrees. The indication for the test is syncope and usually, the obvious causes had been ruled out. Basically, the patient stands for up to 45 minutes. The patient is on the monitor and the NIBP is set for every 2 minutes, and if there have been no significant symptoms at 30 minutes, we would give the pt. 0.4 mg of nitro SL (provided the doctor was either in the room or at the nurse station). The BP would then be checked at least every minute, although most of us just put it in "stat" mode. Many times we would see long pauses (up to 2 or 3 screens, sometimes). Sometimes patients would pass out and we'd only see a drop in BP but no significant drop in HR. At any time during the test, if the pt passed out, we'd put the table down to supine and the test was done. If they didn't pass out within 15 minutes of the nitro, we laid them down and the test was considered negative. I believe the doctors said that 25% of the time, a pt with vaso-vagal syncope would test negative. The point I'm trying to make is we would cause the patient to "vagal" then lay them down and give them half a liter of 0.45 NS. And they were usually ready to go home in about 45 minutes to an hr. I'd also give them water &/or juice to drink and offer them some food. In 10 yrs doing the test, I think I gave atropine twice. The patient would feel better after the IVF and even more so after eating.

Reading all of these posts has brought on some reflection on my part. The man I was living with during Nursing School wasn't very supportive at all. I admire those who made the decision to get out of their relationships, instead of sticking it out, even when it was obvious that it was time to leave, like I did. That was many years ago and looking back, I know he was threatened by what I was doing. I did find it interesting, though, that on the night of graduation, at the party we had, I found out that he was bragging how he had it made because of the money I would be making and all of the things he could buy for the house. The man I ended up marrying was supportive of my career, he never complained about my hours. And because I had worked at the same place for so long, I was able to take off a lot of time when he was dying of cancer. The man I am with now seemed to like my night shift hours better than he does my day shift hours, even though he expressed how glad he was when I found out I was going to days. He's more of a night person, although he doesn't admit to it. I truly believe it isn't the external forces that make or break a relationship (married or not), it's how we deal with life, our beliefs and value systems and how similar they are. And, more than that. I miss my husband, he was truly a wonderful man, and he was more interested in us than him.