Our first patient for the day was a young male who was admitted to Le Bonheur in order to have an appendectomy (appendix removed). Naudia routinely asked the parents about the patient's past medical history and current status. Next, once she was finished listening to the patient's heart, she allowed me to listen to his heart's rhythm. This fairly healthy boy made the evaluation go pretty quickly as there were not extensive medical records on him that needed to be charted. Once we were finished assessing the patient receiving the appendectomy, we headed on down to visit a patient that has Henoch-Schonlein Purpura (HSP) nephritis, meaning that he has a disorder that causes inflammation and bleeding in the small blood vessels in his kidneys. We needed to do an anesthesia evaluation on this child because he was going back to the O.R. in order to have a kidney biopsy done. Per usual, we asked the patient's mother if he has any problems with heart, lungs, stomach, etc., and if the family has any history of anyone with bleeding or muscle diseases. Next, we listened to his heart, and Naudia allowed me to listen to this patient as well. Typically, Naudia lets me listen to all of her patients; however, if it is a small child or baby who is whining or crying, I will not prolong the child's unhappiness by making him or her be observed by two people. After assessing the patient with HSP nephritis, we saw a patient who had a cleft palate and cleft lip but was going into surgery in order to get a heart catheter. It was interesting to see a patient with a cleft lip as it was fascinating to see the patient's facial and lip structures with this abnormality.
|
AuthorMy name is Caroline Rogers, and I am a current rising senior at Hutchison School. This blog is dedicated to my summer internship through Hutchison Leads at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis, TN. Because of my passion and interest for all things medicine, I decided to explore the field of nursing with Family Nurse Practitioner Naudia James who works with the Anesthesiology Department at the hospital. I aspire to attend nursing school as a college student, and I am thrilled to begin studying medicine and exploring a topic that interests me greatly. |