Michelle Sneed
June 2023
Michelle
Sneed
,
RN
Med/Surg
TriStar Greenview Regional Hospital
Bowling Green
,
KY
United States
Michelle recognized I was in distress and took quick action. Instead of sending a message to a doctor and waiting hours for a response, Michelle requested that a doctor evaluate me immediately.
I went to the emergency room at Tristar Greenview Regional Hospital with severe abdominal pain. A CT scan revealed I had a small bowel obstruction. I was admitted to the hospital and moved to the 4th floor.
The next day my pain medication was stepped down to morphine, and I was put on NPO to rest the bowels and see if the condition would resolve itself without surgery.
Late Friday night or the early hours of Saturday morning, my pain once again reached an unbearable level, and the morphine started making me feel nauseated. My nurse, Michelle Sneed, saw I was shaking uncontrollably with pain. I was belching and hiccupping at the same time and it felt like someone was hitting my chest with a hammer each time I did so. Michelle recognized I was in distress and took quick action. Instead of sending a message to a doctor and waiting hours for a response, Michelle requested that a doctor evaluate me immediately. At her request, the doctor came up from the emergency room to see me and agreed right away that I should not be in that much pain. He changed my pain medication back to Dilaudid, as I had received in the ER.
But above and beyond that, the following night, Saturday or in the early morning hours of Sunday, I had reached the point where I couldn’t even touch a wet swab against my lips without starting to belch and hiccup. I began to throw up very black liquid in between the belches/hiccups. She took one look at my emesis bag and immediately took action to get a doctor to order an NG tube. Once inserted, I almost immediately filled up the suction canister.
I’m only a layperson, but I believe Michelle’s quick thinking and action might have prevented my stomach/intestinal contents from getting into my lungs.
The doctor performed surgery on me Wednesday and cleared the obstruction. I was released from the hospital the following Sunday.
All the nurses who attended to me during my hospital stay were kind, considerate, caring, and attentive, but Michelle stood out as being particularly observant and quick to ensure that sudden changes in my condition were addressed without delay. She came to my aid not once, but twice at critical junctures. She is truly a tremendous asset to your nursing staff.
The next day my pain medication was stepped down to morphine, and I was put on NPO to rest the bowels and see if the condition would resolve itself without surgery.
Late Friday night or the early hours of Saturday morning, my pain once again reached an unbearable level, and the morphine started making me feel nauseated. My nurse, Michelle Sneed, saw I was shaking uncontrollably with pain. I was belching and hiccupping at the same time and it felt like someone was hitting my chest with a hammer each time I did so. Michelle recognized I was in distress and took quick action. Instead of sending a message to a doctor and waiting hours for a response, Michelle requested that a doctor evaluate me immediately. At her request, the doctor came up from the emergency room to see me and agreed right away that I should not be in that much pain. He changed my pain medication back to Dilaudid, as I had received in the ER.
But above and beyond that, the following night, Saturday or in the early morning hours of Sunday, I had reached the point where I couldn’t even touch a wet swab against my lips without starting to belch and hiccup. I began to throw up very black liquid in between the belches/hiccups. She took one look at my emesis bag and immediately took action to get a doctor to order an NG tube. Once inserted, I almost immediately filled up the suction canister.
I’m only a layperson, but I believe Michelle’s quick thinking and action might have prevented my stomach/intestinal contents from getting into my lungs.
The doctor performed surgery on me Wednesday and cleared the obstruction. I was released from the hospital the following Sunday.
All the nurses who attended to me during my hospital stay were kind, considerate, caring, and attentive, but Michelle stood out as being particularly observant and quick to ensure that sudden changes in my condition were addressed without delay. She came to my aid not once, but twice at critical junctures. She is truly a tremendous asset to your nursing staff.