Lindley Garcia-Clinical Director, Janet Cruz, Dr. Ali Ghobadi, Chad Mariano, Nicole Laflamme, Napoleon Hulipas, Ruth Segura, Mohammad Abu-Hussin, Mae Balbin, Michelle McMillion, Olivia Cota, Christian Ivelia, Robert Kervin, Vincent Navarete
January 2016
Kp
Team
,
RN's and more
Emergency Department
Kaiser Permanente Anaheim Medical Center
Anaheim
,
CA
United States
A 17-year-old male patient was brought in by his mother. He was experiencing left shoulder pain following an injury sustained during a high school wrestling tournament a few hours earlier. As soon as he arrived in the ED waiting room, the nursing team immediately recognized that he was critical and wheeled him back right away.
At this particular time of night the ED was fully saturated, with no empty beds. A resuscitation room was quickly evacuated, and the patient was immediately moved in--followed by no less than 6 nurses and several techs who all immediately recognized the situation and jumped in to help. Dr. Ghobadi also followed the patient into the room, sensing the situation, and noticed that the patient was barely responsive--BP was in the low 80's. Within a minute, patient was on oxygen, and 2 large bore IV's were started. Blood was drawn and sent--lab had already been notified to come up and was drawing for type/cross. Xray for stat portable chest was also ordered. The bedside FAST scan showed fluid in the abdomen confirming that the shoulder pain was from a ruptured spleen. Surgery was quickly paged to the bedside, and in less than 20 minutes from arrival in the parking lot, patient had been resuscitated with 2 liters of NS and BP was up to 115. As a result, the patient became coherent and was talking with the surgeon at his bedside. This is an amazing feat, even for a level 1 trauma center!
It was discovered that the patient had a high grade splenic laceration with active bleeding, and even though alert, he remained critical. When he was taken to the OR they found 3.5 liters of blood in his abdomen. Prior to heading up to the OR, the patient's mother pulled the Physician aside and praised the care team for the amazing work they did to save her son--"it looked like everyone was working together in an orchestra".
We want to thank the nursing team that was involved in this case. The team worked together flawlessly--from those caring for the patient, to those that went on a full sprint to the blood bank and back to help save this young man's life. It is not often that we find ourselves in the situation of having to save the life of a 17-year-old young man, but because of this team's hard work and quick action, he was able to walk out of the hospital and will have a long and meaningful life.
This was truly an incredible save, and we are justifiably very proud of our Emergency Department!
At this particular time of night the ED was fully saturated, with no empty beds. A resuscitation room was quickly evacuated, and the patient was immediately moved in--followed by no less than 6 nurses and several techs who all immediately recognized the situation and jumped in to help. Dr. Ghobadi also followed the patient into the room, sensing the situation, and noticed that the patient was barely responsive--BP was in the low 80's. Within a minute, patient was on oxygen, and 2 large bore IV's were started. Blood was drawn and sent--lab had already been notified to come up and was drawing for type/cross. Xray for stat portable chest was also ordered. The bedside FAST scan showed fluid in the abdomen confirming that the shoulder pain was from a ruptured spleen. Surgery was quickly paged to the bedside, and in less than 20 minutes from arrival in the parking lot, patient had been resuscitated with 2 liters of NS and BP was up to 115. As a result, the patient became coherent and was talking with the surgeon at his bedside. This is an amazing feat, even for a level 1 trauma center!
It was discovered that the patient had a high grade splenic laceration with active bleeding, and even though alert, he remained critical. When he was taken to the OR they found 3.5 liters of blood in his abdomen. Prior to heading up to the OR, the patient's mother pulled the Physician aside and praised the care team for the amazing work they did to save her son--"it looked like everyone was working together in an orchestra".
We want to thank the nursing team that was involved in this case. The team worked together flawlessly--from those caring for the patient, to those that went on a full sprint to the blood bank and back to help save this young man's life. It is not often that we find ourselves in the situation of having to save the life of a 17-year-old young man, but because of this team's hard work and quick action, he was able to walk out of the hospital and will have a long and meaningful life.
This was truly an incredible save, and we are justifiably very proud of our Emergency Department!