Resident slit her own throat in a fall!

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I had such a scary situation yesterday morning. I had stayed late to catch up on paperwork, and they paged me overhead to our South hall, stat. I ran there and one of our residents had gotten up without non-skid socks on (had regular cotton socks on a tile floor) and fallen. Apparently she caught the corner of a square bureau in the middle of her neck and slit her throat open about 4 inches as she fell. Thank God she didn't cut her jugular, but it was still horrible, adipose tissue was bulging from the wound. Nurses and CNAs were standing around her but either didn't know what to do or were too shocked to do anything. I immediately dropped to the floor with her, stabilized her head between my knees and applied pressure, calling for sterile gauze and saline. The LPN actually poured distilled water from a jug into a regular drinking cup and brought it to me! I told her that wasn't sterile and luckily another nurse had heard me and grabbed a bottle of saline, which I poured over the gauze and used to apply pressure to the area. It seemed like forever until the ambulance got there, but the bleeding was controlled at that point. It was such a freak accident! I called the hospital to check on her, she received both internal and external stitches and also it turns out she broke her pelvis in two places. Has anyone else ever heard of something like this happening? I'm so glad she's going to be okay.

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*hug* How scary for you...

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Specializes in EC, IMU, LTAC.

Yeesh, reminds me of the resident who got decapitated from an elevator door a couple years ago.

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Yeesh, reminds me of the resident who got decapitated from an elevator door a couple years ago.

OMG! Were you there? How did it happen?

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Thank god you were there to help! It seems like the other staff would have just stood there.

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OMGoodness. I've seen something very similar to this. It was the wheelchair pedal that caught the pt and cut her neck. Very, very scary. Of course everyone freaked. From then on....Nothing beside the beds. I also wanted to bad every thing in everyone's rooms. LOL. My pt turned out okay and the family was actually very thankfull with me for the immediate medical attention the pt received.

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Lori a very scary situation, give yourself a pat on the back for staying calm. prayers go out to the resident.

Wow all because she wore socks, how many times have i told Pt's to put slippers or shoes on when walking around units, this is a lesson to all.

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Specializes in Case Management.

Lori, great job! Truly a scary event!:uhoh3:

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Specializes in Operating Room.

WOW! That is so scary. I am glad she is going to be fine.

When I worked as a nursing assistant in a LTC, I was dressing a lady and as I put on her shirt, I heard a "POP". It was her skin. It tear at her wrist, all the way around her arm. As I pulled her sleeve on, her skin just pull right up her arm with it. Her arm was literally skinned. I was only 18 and it scared the beejeezees out of me. She had a history of skin tears. I felt so bad. Of course, it didn't take anything for her skin to tear.

My story is not nearly as frightening as yours, though. Great thinking!

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Specializes in Geriatrics, DD, Peri-op.

At my last job (a developmentally disabled home), one of my sweet ladies fell against a door frame. She slid down the frame and her neck caught the plate that the door knobbie thingy goes into when the door shuts (I have NO IDEA of the terminology) and was slit. The nurse that went to assess the situation (she was at a Pyramid day program) said that when he gently opened the wound to check the jugular vein...he could see it pulsating :o . Luckily, it wasn't slit either.

She had internal and external sutures...but, I want you to know that the ER physician had the gall to send her home with no pain medication. I guess if you're brain damaged/autistic...you don't feel pain. :madface:

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Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.

OH WOW...congrats to you for keeping your head, and getting her the help she needed!

I was walking into my facilty one day and noticed a resident on the ground...she had fallen over a sprinkler tending to her bird feeders. Her head was split and bone fragments exposed...as well as brain matter and enough blood to make anyone quezy!

I yelled out and some CNA's got there fast with a cel phone and called 9-11. They brought me what I needed for a sterile dressing, and blankets to help her stay warm...did that and I held her in c-spine till paramedics arrived. Thank goodness bleeding was controled (I was amazed it was with so much damage).

The freakiest part...she was in no pain, and was talking like nothing was going on (I know shock...but that was really interesting..and good for her!).

She wound up being okay, but she was living on the unassisted side of the ALF, and had to move to the assisted side due to fall risk and her taking on far more chores then she should with an unsteady gait (IE the reason she fell...that and low vision and not seeing the sprinkler).

She passed away 2 years later of a stroke...she was 98.

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

Gosh how scarey, just goes to show though how none of us can predict how we will act in an emergency-especially when we know somebody.

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