Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Perforated Bowel

So I survived the glucose patient last night, only to have another situation the next evening when I arrived.  Once again in the middle of report, the techs yelled for a nurse.  As I ran into the room, I saw the patient laying flat on his back vomiting.  I quickly helped the techs, turn him onto his side, and raised the head of the bed.  When I went to grab the suction, I discovered there was no suction set up.  I quickly had a tech run to get the necessary supplies.  As I was waiting, I noticed the smell of the vomit.  It was stool smelling.  That was not good at all.
  The MD and Rapid Response quickly reappeared (apparently they had just left the patients room, and found him to be stable).   They quickly changed their diagnosis to a perforated bowel in need of emergent surgery.  He quickly left for the OR and the shift returned to it's normal pace.

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