Brenda went above and beyond with her patient care on a gentleman who came to us from the emergency room. The patient had multiple health problems, not to mention his hip fracture that was going to be repaired that day. He had a pacemaker that needed an interrogation and was having ectopy and changes to his EKG, which had also occurred in the Emergency Department. Brenda promptly notified the surgeon, who then consulted with the internist and cardiologist. We were able to present the pacemaker report to the cardiologist because of our access to the St. Jude transmitter. The patient had also arrived with oxygen saturations in the 60's and was placed on 6 liters NC and eventually had a CXR.
Along with heart problems, the patient had a traumatic foley placement in the Emergency Department, so the urologist on call was also consulted. When the Doctor arrived, and with help from the OR staff, he performed a cystoscopy and placement of a foley catheter, resolving the 1000 ml of urine in the patient's bladder. Due to our access to a bladder scanner, we were able to alert the urologist of the patient's full bladder despite the Emergency Department foley placement.
With Brenda's persistent care and acknowledgment of all the issues this patient had, the surgery was delayed until the morning. I was so proud of Brenda and her determination to make sure this pre-op patient was prepared for a safe surgical outcome. She could have easily sent the patient to the floor to have the consults performed there, but she wanted to get issues resolved before she handed off the patient to the floor nurse. A big salute to Brenda and her wonderful care of this and all of her patients.