On Sunday we had an 11-year-old child come into the ER for complaints of high heart rate and weight loss over the last day. The child arrived with kussmal respirations and a heart rate of 130-145 bpm. The patient was in obvious DKA. I started the INT on the child and spoke to the mother in the room. The mom proceeded to tell me how the child's father was a PT with the hospital system, and she wished he could be at the bedside as well since he had medical knowledge and would understand what was going on. I told her I would be happy to go to the car and get him while we are waiting on labs.
After I brought the father to the bedside, I explained what was going on with the patient. I stepped back into the nurses' station and told Kristi Sergant what all was going on and asked Kristi if she would mind speaking to the family since they seemed nervous about their child's diagnosis/condition. (Kristi has a daughter herself who is type 1 diabetic and was diagnosed at the same age).
I went to hang fluids in the patient's room and brought Kristi into the room with me. She explained to the family how her own daughter was diagnosed at the same age with type 1 diabetes. She became emotional during this talk because she could see the fear in their eyes and knew how they felt. Kristi stayed in the room, explained all the processes to come to them as a family and all the new devices/education out there. She wrote down and gave them several resources and support groups for them to join. Kristi even gave this family her own personal cell phone number and told them they could call her anytime at any hour with any questions. This is what being a nurse is all about!