To look professional

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Specializes in L&D, Cardiac/Renal, Palliative Care.

Funny story but first some background:

I work on a floor that does palliative care and we have a team of NPs and docs who only do the palliative care.

Typically when we have a "palli patient" the palliative team oversees their care, puts in all the orders, etc., and the hospitalist docs are no longer involved.

Recently we had a patient who was alert/oriented, typical med-surg type patient and was assigned to a nurse floated from another floor to our unit.

One rapid response later and his family made the decision to make him DNR-CC and become palliative. However, because hospice didn't have time to come do paperwork that day he was technically still a hospitalist patient with the palliative team consulted.

It happened in the course of events that at almost 18:00 (almost made it to shift change) he expired and I happened to be the nearest nurse when the family came out to get someone.

I got the primary nurse and we declared TOD and I told her all the things she needed to do, including page the doc.

10 minutes later the doctor shows up at the nurses station and the following conversation ensues:

Dr. F: does anybody have a penlight?

Nurses: Dr. F, why do you need a penlight?

Dr. F: you know to, look professional...??

Nurses: Dr. F, how will a penlight make you look professional? (Truely puzzled)

Dr. F: you know, to check pupils...look professional.......

Nurses: ? he's already been declared dead....

We all had a good chuckle over it ( including the doctor), especially after we told him that all you need to declare someone dead in the state of Ohio is two RNs and a stethoscope. It was probably funnier to us since we handle death all the time. Actually I think many of my funny work stories involve non-palli docs and palliative patients....maybe someone should teach them a class....

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
21 hours ago, mi_dreamin said:

Funny story...

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.

He could have just clicked a regular pen and pretended it was a penlight. Would have yielded the same information and looked just as professional.

"You have been declared officially expired. Is there anything else I can do? I have time."

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
10 hours ago, TriciaJ said:

He could have just clicked a regular pen and pretended it was a penlight. Would have yielded the same information and looked just as professional.

"You have been declared officially expired. Is there anything else I can do? I have time."

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
10 hours ago, Davey Do said:

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This really did make my day.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Pediatric Float, PICU, NICU.
11 hours ago, Davey Do said:

2076381680_laughtilcry.jpg.f96b80f69adc3df9c06837bea9edaa7c.jpg

913333812_lookprofessional2.png.f866528426209e7852af054f304519c3.png

? I love how this came full circle. ?

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

My first job was on the "teaching medical unit," a general medicine and telemetry unit. There were only two "teaching units" in that whole community hospital, so we were the only ones who got to know the house staff. They more or less depended upon us to watch their backs. At night, they covered the whole house, but it being a community hospital that transferred the sick patients to the university hospital across town, they only got called to pronounce a death.

One night I was floated to the overflow floor (non-teaching) and my DNAR patient, an octogenarian with a fever too high to register on our mercury thermometers and a breast lump the size of an orange expired. As was the policy, I called the house officer on call, who happened to be a guy named Mark.

Mark dutifully showed up and accompanied me to my patient's room, where, stethoscope in hand, he reached out to touch the patient. He screamed and jumped about a foot in the air. "She's still WARM," he gasped. "Usually when they call me to come here, they're COLD." He wasn't sure he could pronounce a warm patient, and wanted to wait until she cooled off. I finally listened for a heart beat with him, and assured him that I didn't hear one, either.

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Specializes in Emergency Department.
On 4/26/2019 at 2:51 AM, Ruby Vee said:

Mark dutifully showed up and accompanied me to my patient's room, where, stethoscope in hand, he reached out to touch the patient. He screamed and jumped about a foot in the air. "She's still WARM," he gasped. "Usually when they call me to come here, they're COLD." He wasn't sure he could pronounce a warm patient, and wanted to wait until she cooled off. I finally listened for a heart beat with him, and assured him that I didn't hear one, either.

Has he never heard the ALS/ATLS/TNCC mantra; "you're not dead until you're warm and dead?" ?

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

Probably not -- this was a LONG time ago.

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