Hi all! Haven't posted in a while, but am making a come back. I wanted to do a post that would generate some good moral, as I have noted a lot of slightly on the negative side topics as of late. ( not counting I got a job/ tell me about the job stuff).
That being said...I am interested on stories of your good catches in corrections nursing. We as nurses in this specialty have a great nose for b.s. but sometimes some of us can get jaded and miss the real stuff when it happens...I want stories of the opposite stuff, the stuff you saw and acted upon which saved a life. I'll start. And as the title of my post suggests, I accredit the life of this particular Pt to an LPN on my staff, and yes a cup of Gatorade.
It was just another night at the good old county jail, and it was getting toward the end of my 12 hr shift, right around med pass time at 4-5am. I don't handle the med pass, one LPN does that as I am in the infirmary and deal with everything else (to avoid a tangent on what I do, which is much like I'm sure many of you deal with if you work at a busy county jail in an inner city) At any rate at this time of the day my shift is usually pretty chill, most of my paper work and charting is complete and I can relax and do my counts and such. So at about that time I get a call from one of the officers that my LPN is sending a guy up to medical for evaluation. That is all I get, so I ask to speek with the LPN to see what I am in for, and all she can tell me is that he isn't acting right, slurring speech, and unsteady gait. While I am waiting I pull the chart and find a young guy litterly just turned 26 y/o no significant medical hx except he was being treated for flu like symptoms.
So he gets to medical, and she was right, he was a bit off but nothing major at first glance. Vitals stable. So at first Im thinking he was celebrating his b-day and took another I/M meds and is now having some SE. But he denied doing that and reported only a severe head ache. Neuro check ok ish, but he was only smiling with one side of his face, no droop. So now I think bells palsy? so I call the on call md and she says that sounds right, and to keep him in the infirmary on neuro watch and he will f/u with md sick call round 7 am less than 3 hrs away. so Im cool with that and tell the inmate and C/Os that he will be moving. So he asks for some gatorade, (we give it to our w/d guys usually) so i give him a big old cup and he picks it up and instead of bringing it to his mouth he pours it down the front of his shirt. Then he uses his other hand to drink it without a problem. At that point ( after asking him what he was doing) I say hold the phone...I'm calling 911 and this guy is outta here. I wasnt sure what was going on with him, all I knew was that now he had a decrease in coordination and that is never a good thing.
So to make an long thread longer...the Pt wound up having a sub dural hematoma, with an 8 mm shift of the midline and an abscess in his brain. less than 1 hr after leaving the jail he had an emergent craniotomy, and then 2 days later another one. I heard from one of the Lts who knows the Pts family that he is doing well with minor deficets on the left side, but he is alive! If he had gotten to the hospital any later he wouldnt have made it.
so my friend's joke...Corrections nursing saving lives one cup of gatorade at a time! actually came true...
What are your stories...remember good catches with hopefully good outcomes! need a little upbeat stuff sometimes yah know....
ps sorry about the length of this thread i know i can ramble hope u enjoy it.
Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
Here's one. Female inmate shows up in booking for medical intake. I had 2 other intakes. Officers tell me She is a doozy intoxicated, to go ahead with the other 2, because she was too intoxicated/slurred speech to answer questions. I look though cell at her. They had her laying down. We are contracted in Healthcare to the jail, have to get permission to treat, consents signed by inmates. I proceeded to do the intakes. Officer come to stating inmate still sluggish after 30 min. I check on her again. Still no intake.., sluggish, VS WNL, PERL, but officers stated she was not this sluggish up first entering the jail. I called the medical director and HSA. Agreed to call 911, nothing I could do for her at the county jail, got her outta there for futher assessment. INTAKE NEVER DONE...I followed up the next day, IM had ASA toxity. Anyhoo, I was terminated....officers and the Sherrif felt my standard of care was insufficient, because I didn't attend to her efficiently. So they are calling the shots are the county jail. Had survellience, without audio.
I was reading your post & I swear it sounded like something that would happen to me at my former job. I loved my job but they finally fired me (I think? I don't know/remember because this was years ago). After I was in a car accident & not able to work. My boss called, not to ask how I was doing, but to ask if I was coming into work. I couldn't believe it! I was on crutches & even on the crutches could barely walk. So I think after he heard that took me off the schedule since I was only PRN staff.
I'm sorry that happened to you. Sometimes I hate corrections because security doesn't understand our job.
OrganizedChaos, LVN
1 Article; 6,883 Posts
I was reading your post & I swear it sounded like something that would happen to me at my former job. I loved my job but they finally fired me (I think? I don't know/remember because this was years ago). After I was in a car accident & not able to work. My boss called, not to ask how I was doing, but to ask if I was coming into work. I couldn't believe it! I was on crutches & even on the crutches could barely walk. So I think after he heard that took me off the schedule since I was only PRN staff.
I'm sorry that happened to you. Sometimes I hate corrections because security doesn't understand our job.