Once finished with some of the patients staying on the patient floors of the hospital, Naudia and I headed down to Same-Day surgery to complete some of the pre-op anesthesia evaluations on some of the patients. The first patient we saw was a young patient who has previously visited Le Bonheur with the diagnosis of morbid obesity as well as possible Prader Willi syndrome, which is a contributing factor towards morbid obesity. Though this patient has previous medical history with Le Bonheur for other purposes, she was in the hospital today in order to have a dental procedure done for dental caries, which are permanently damaged areas in the teeth that develop into tiny holes. Once again, Naudia let me listen to this patient's heart beat and bowel movements using the stethoscope.
Once Naudia was through completing the history and physical (H&P) for this patient, we next saw a young girl who was about to go back into surgery to have a foreign body removed from her eye. Her mother said that a piece of metal got stuck in her eye, so they came into the hospital so that the object could be removed. Naudia looked at her chart and past medical history and noted that the child has been healthy her whole life and has little other past medical history, so this patient was a quick assessment as the evaluation did not take much time to complete. We then visited a patient who also was in to have a dental procedure done, and again, Naudia kindly allowed me to listen to the patient's heart with her stethoscope. She does a fantastic job at explaining the procedures and diagnoses to me, so I always feel like I have a good grasp and understanding of the terms she is using when talking to the patient and the patient's family members. As I talked about in my post yesterday, it is apparent that the patients follow the strict rules of no eating or drinking after a certain hour before surgery because food in the stomach can cause aspiration and other potential complications during surgery. We actually saw a patient today that came in to begin her pre-op for surgery, but she had breakfast this morning, so the staff had to send her home and re-schedule her surgery since she had food before the procedure. The staff also wants the patients to be as well as possible before going under anesthesia, and one patient we saw today had a fever yesterday and also this morning, so the staff had to postpone the surgery to a day when she did not have a fever, running nose, and ear ache. After Same-Day surgery, we took a walk around the hospital for a bit, and Naudia showed me a beautiful art piece out in the hallway that has her name embedded in the work.
Once Naudia was through completing the history and physical (H&P) for this patient, we next saw a young girl who was about to go back into surgery to have a foreign body removed from her eye. Her mother said that a piece of metal got stuck in her eye, so they came into the hospital so that the object could be removed. Naudia looked at her chart and past medical history and noted that the child has been healthy her whole life and has little other past medical history, so this patient was a quick assessment as the evaluation did not take much time to complete. We then visited a patient who also was in to have a dental procedure done, and again, Naudia kindly allowed me to listen to the patient's heart with her stethoscope. She does a fantastic job at explaining the procedures and diagnoses to me, so I always feel like I have a good grasp and understanding of the terms she is using when talking to the patient and the patient's family members. As I talked about in my post yesterday, it is apparent that the patients follow the strict rules of no eating or drinking after a certain hour before surgery because food in the stomach can cause aspiration and other potential complications during surgery. We actually saw a patient today that came in to begin her pre-op for surgery, but she had breakfast this morning, so the staff had to send her home and re-schedule her surgery since she had food before the procedure. The staff also wants the patients to be as well as possible before going under anesthesia, and one patient we saw today had a fever yesterday and also this morning, so the staff had to postpone the surgery to a day when she did not have a fever, running nose, and ear ache. After Same-Day surgery, we took a walk around the hospital for a bit, and Naudia showed me a beautiful art piece out in the hallway that has her name embedded in the work.