luis mejia morales, RN

Ten minutes after rounding post-op Day #1 on a patient who was recovering from a partial foot amputation I received a very calm, clear call from Luis Morales informing me that the foot dressing was saturated with blood. Within 5 minutes I was once again bedside, this time with a very attentive Mr. Morales by my side. He had already cleaned up the blood from the floor and the patient was very appropriately positioned with a large, bulky dressing about the foot. I placed an esmarch tourniquet around the ankle and quickly moved the patient to the OR where I determined that an arterial vessel ligature had been displaced during deep packing removal. In the OR I re-ligated the vessel and returned the patient to the floor. I've been on surgical staff at Martha Jefferson Hospital for 19 years and was impressed by the efficient, calm, appropriate behavior of Luis Morales during this incident. His confident and expert demeanor not only served to reassure the patient but most certainly also contributed to the desired outcome of appropriately handling this vascular emergency.