Share your story: "I hate it when I'm right!"

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had a patient a few weeks ago with intense chest pain on deep breath. no labs or tests were done to r/o pe. my gut told me it was a pe, though. so i called the doc (at about 0400), begged for and got orders--and patient turned up positive for a lot of pe's.

i hate it when i'm right.

(btw, pt survived.)

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Shortly after graduating, had a s/p TURP. Easy patient, I thought (rule #1 -- NEVER think that!), just keep CBI going and assess UO, etc. First time I had the patient, went in his room and talked with him while I did my assessment. All physical systems WNL, verbally appropriate, followed all commands, seemed A&Ox3, etc., but something just didn't seem right. Asked him to tell me his name...he sat and thought for a minute, then told me he couldn't. Asked him to tell me where he was...again, he couldn't. Couldn't tell me what year it was either. Called our Rapid Response Team and he was transferred to ICU. Lesson -- never assume that just because a patient acts "appropriate" that he is...

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sorry to sound dumb what are PE's

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Specializes in LTC.
sorry to sound dumb what are PE's

pulmonary embolism

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Specializes in Cardiac.

This is a story of when I was a tech, but I was almost done with NS.

I was called over to put in a foley on a large women. Three other techs had tried it and were unsuccessful (I am the foley queen). So I come over and they are all stressed out over how hard it it to try to put the foley into this lady since she is so sedated S/P stent placement. I say, why is she acting so funny? They say it's just how she acts. I placed in in trendellenburg and slipped the foley in (because I rock at foleys) and then I hit the BP on the monitor. There was a new PCT there and I said to her that here at this hospital, the nurses expect you to take vitals when you think the patient is acting weird like this. So then I tell the nurse that her patient is acting very weird. She says she knows. I say, she's just acting really, really weird. It started off as just moving her legs around a lot, and then she started talking non-sense. She says she is trying to get an order for some sedative or pain medicine from the doctor to calm her down. I said, "Your patient is acting hypoxic". That's when she comes into the room with me.

I go back into the room to see what the BP was and it was all dashes-meaning that the monitor couldn't find the BP. I take a manual one and it's 40! Look at the monitor and she's in ST, but when I try to get another BP, I can't hear a pulse. I feel the carotid, no pulse. Pt's in PEA, called a code, worked her for a while, and she died.

It was less than 2 hours since her cath, and her family hadn't seen her yet. It was the day after Christmas.

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I am a Long term care aide and I worked in a extended care facility. I had this resident that as soon as she was awake she was asking "what should I do now?" I woke her up for lunch and she cracked an eyelid and mumbled somthing but it was very slurred so I tried harder to get her to make eye contact with me and she just wouldn't so I got the LPN and told her that somthing was extremely wrong with Mrs. X she came down and tried to wake her. The LPN got the same slurred response and accounted the sound of her voice to the fact that her "mouth was dry". I argued and got the other care aide that I was working with to confirm my suspicions, the nurse still disagreed and left it at that. THREE days later Mrs. X son came in and said that his mom was not the same and wanted her to be sent to ER. So the nurse begrudginly sent her. DX? MASSIVE CVA. Mrs. X spent 4 days on tube feed (she pulled it out) and then anothe 12 on TPN. She ended up in ICU for another 6 days before passing away. The care aides that were working on the day that she had the CVA got hauled into the DOC's office and supremely reemed out for not dong our jobs and accurately assessing our residents at all times:trout:

Oh yeah I forgot... We TOLD the LPN that we thought that she was having a CVA

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Man on man I hope someday I will be able to decipher some of the posts I see on this board lol. Scrolling down I finally got to see what PE was and then after that I was totally lost!!.

Eagerly awaiting my initiation into the Medical Jargon Abbreviations Club lol.

Great post tho...I did understand a small part of it hehe.

Carry on!!:wink2:

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Specializes in Utilization Management.
Man on man I hope someday I will be able to decipher some of the posts I see on this board lol. Scrolling down I finally got to see what PE was and then after that I was totally lost!!.

Eagerly awaiting my initiation into the Medical Jargon Abbreviations Club lol.

Great post tho...I did understand a small part of it hehe.

Carry on!!:wink2:

Just PM me; I'll be happy to translate.

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Awww. lol Thanks Angie!!. I think I will be ok here. I just went back to page one of this post and started reading all over again. I think I will be ok :chuckle

Can hardly wait tho till I can speak like a Pro!! :wink2:

Just PM me; I'll be happy to translate.
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Specializes in Utilization Management.

Then there's this, in case I'm doing something useful, like sleeping. ;)

http://www.acronymfinder.com/

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LOL...awesome site thanks a bunch!!

Then there's this, in case I'm doing something useful, like sleeping. ;)

http://www.acronymfinder.com/

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Man on man I hope someday I will be able to decipher some of the posts I see on this board lol. Scrolling down I finally got to see what PE was and then after that I was totally lost!!.

Eagerly awaiting my initiation into the Medical Jargon Abbreviations Club lol.

Great post tho...I did understand a small part of it hehe.

Carry on!!:wink2:

Sorry keep forgetting many of the members are students students to be and new grads.

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14-yr-old boy came in c/o headache for 4-5 days and fever. I immediately isolated him because my gut was screaming "MENINGITIS!!!" The ER doc removed the isolation because "No kid is going to tolerate a meningitis headache for a week." I was fairly new out so against my better judgement I listened to him. A student and I were in the room with him while he did the LP (just to rule out, after all, he couldn't be septic, right?). I also dropped a foley in....what 14-yr-old boy is gonna let a woman do that without complaining at all, unless he's really sick?

An hour or so later I was charting at the desk when the doc came up behind me, laughing, and said "Well, I guess we all get to take Rifampin for a few days.

" I just slowly raised my head and looked him square in the eye and said, "You mean because of the kid you said couldn't possibly have meningitis?!?!?"

Never let him forget it.

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