After assessing some of Naudia's dental patients in Same-Day surgery, I headed out with Nurse Practitioner Cathy Hall to evaluate some of her patients with her. The first patient we saw was a little girl who was admitted to Le Bonheur to have a femur fracture repaired after she fell and dented the rod that was already in place from a previous femur break. While visiting this patient in her room, she began throwing up and gagging, so Cathy talked to one of the nurses and got some medicine ordered that would help make the patient feel more comfortable while she was waiting to go back to surgery. Once Cathy was finished filling out her anesthesia evaluation chart by listening to the patient's heart and asking the family about past medical history, we headed out to visit our next patient.
Like I saw yesterday, this Hispanic female had neurogenic bladder and neurogenic bowel, so she was going to surgery in order to have a MACE procedure performed to help with these conditions. Upon walking into the room, the patient was about to have blood work done, and she started crying because of fear of the needle, so a Child Life Specialist came into the room and helped soothe the patient and calm her down while the blood was being drawn. Though the patient could speak English, her parents could not, so Cathy had the hospital interpreter in the room to help facilitate the conversation regarding the patient's past medical history and current status. Suddenly, the interpreter urgently had to leave the room to attend to a patient in the emergency room, so Cathy had to pull out the blue phone and call an interpreter to help her convey what she needed to the Hispanic parents. After a while going back and forth from English and Spanish on the phone, Cathy finally finished her evaluation.
Once finished with the patient getting the MACE procedure, we headed down to the NICU to check on a patient that was about to have a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) closure procedure. This baby was born prematurely at 25 weeks gestation, and she was probably the tiniest baby I have ever seen. While Cathy and I were reviewing her chart out in the hallway, the patient suddenly went into oxygen desaturation, and a whole team of doctors and nurses flooded the room to get her respiratory situation under control. Once the respiratory team had the baby stabilized, Cathy and I went in to talk to the parents about the baby's upcoming heart surgery. As routine, Cathy asked the patient's parents if the patient has had any cardiac, pulmonary, endocrine, GI, hematologic, neuromuscular, and additional problems. Once Cathy and I finished up on the NICU, we headed back down to the second floor to meet back up with Naudia.
Like I saw yesterday, this Hispanic female had neurogenic bladder and neurogenic bowel, so she was going to surgery in order to have a MACE procedure performed to help with these conditions. Upon walking into the room, the patient was about to have blood work done, and she started crying because of fear of the needle, so a Child Life Specialist came into the room and helped soothe the patient and calm her down while the blood was being drawn. Though the patient could speak English, her parents could not, so Cathy had the hospital interpreter in the room to help facilitate the conversation regarding the patient's past medical history and current status. Suddenly, the interpreter urgently had to leave the room to attend to a patient in the emergency room, so Cathy had to pull out the blue phone and call an interpreter to help her convey what she needed to the Hispanic parents. After a while going back and forth from English and Spanish on the phone, Cathy finally finished her evaluation.
Once finished with the patient getting the MACE procedure, we headed down to the NICU to check on a patient that was about to have a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) closure procedure. This baby was born prematurely at 25 weeks gestation, and she was probably the tiniest baby I have ever seen. While Cathy and I were reviewing her chart out in the hallway, the patient suddenly went into oxygen desaturation, and a whole team of doctors and nurses flooded the room to get her respiratory situation under control. Once the respiratory team had the baby stabilized, Cathy and I went in to talk to the parents about the baby's upcoming heart surgery. As routine, Cathy asked the patient's parents if the patient has had any cardiac, pulmonary, endocrine, GI, hematologic, neuromuscular, and additional problems. Once Cathy and I finished up on the NICU, we headed back down to the second floor to meet back up with Naudia.