Well most of you know that my mom was recently in the hospital for about a week. I spent about four days straight there and saw a lot of things that I will be tucking away for further use but there were many things that really concerned me about the nursing care she received.
My mom was in the ICU for five days. Her nurse's name was Ruby...she was AMAZING! She was so gentle and sweet, she took her time when we had questions and explained everything to my Dad. She was open and compassionate. She is the kind of nurse I aspire to be. She was busy but never once rushed us or ignored the questions we had.
Right after the surgery my mom was in the recovery room. She was very doped up still so was not very responsive. My Dad was in the room with her when one of the nurses came in and my dad asked "does she have something in her mouth?" the nurses response was, "No" and walked out. A few minutes later she walked back in and again my dad asked about her tongue tell her something was wrong but the nurse replied with, "I don't know why she is holding her tongue up like that" and walked out. It turned out the my mom's tongue was so swollen that you could only see the back of her tongue and was cutting off her air supply. When a patient's husband inquires that something is wrong I would think that any nurse would look at that as a red flag and further look into his observation. The nurse does not know her baseline but her husband of 27 years probably does.
Thank goodness my Dad didn't leave my mom because about five minutes later she started flailing, gasping for air, turned completely blue, and passed out. He ran and got a nurse who then called the crash team and had to emergency intubate her. All this could have been avoided if the nurse who was suppose to be taking care of her listened to my dad and even know the procedure she had.
I saw some great tactics and got some awesome "words of wisdom" from the nurses but I also learned that if a family member or somebody who knows the baseline of the my patient has a concern it is ALWAYS something to look into. My mom is finally home and doing very well. Thank you all for your kind words through this tough time but a very bad situation turned into a great one.
We all have so many things to be thankful for this holiday season.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
#8
ReplyDeleteMaddie this is such a great post. I am so glad that your mom is okay and back home! I completely agree with the fact you should listen to the family member if they have concerns. They are the ones who know the patient the best after all. That must have been a scary situation for your dad. But thank God he was there in the room with her when all this happened so she was able to get the help she needed. Its great how you can turn a situation that was negative into a positive, that is a great attribute to have. Glad you are back at school with all of us!