Mouth Breathing
Theme at work today for me in the ED: code brown
Theme at work today/department: Overdose
I spent the better part of my day yesterday breathing through my mouth. Why, you say? It is my technique, passed down from my husband Tommy and others well skilled in the art of dealing with liquids they are not wanting to smell too much of... "Code Brown" is a delicate word for the type of liquid I am talking about. It seemed as though my contribution to one lady's care was an hour with her and an RN rolling her side to side like a rocking boat, wiping and throwing more chucks (absorbant thingies) under her. She was on a ventilator, and attached to every imagineable piece of wiring and tubing as well. She was also restrained to protect her from pulling out her tube. For every roll, untie-move arms and legs, re-tie, and roll. Once we would get close to getting her clean, out would FLOW another round (she had had activated charcoal, ergo the flow.) So, three times, three strikes, about what seemed to be an hour passed. The RN from ICU, asks for a stopper-like-thingy that gets puts up there, and attaches to a bag, similar to a foley catheter for urine, to catch the next round and make our job much easier. Alas, no such animal in the ED. So, he jogs to his department and gets one. It only works if the flow is just that. A flow. If you have any chunks, it'll onlly act like the little boy and his finger in the dike. We get this in place, and soon she is moved to ICU.
Did I mention that during this adventure he is talking about how his friend in Iowa knows me from my previous work (professional bowling)? Oh yes, from TV as well. So we are talking a bit about bowling, I am breathing through my mouth, and we are rolling and wiping. Ask me again two years ago if I would have thought I would be doing this right now!
Theme at work today/department: Overdose
I spent the better part of my day yesterday breathing through my mouth. Why, you say? It is my technique, passed down from my husband Tommy and others well skilled in the art of dealing with liquids they are not wanting to smell too much of... "Code Brown" is a delicate word for the type of liquid I am talking about. It seemed as though my contribution to one lady's care was an hour with her and an RN rolling her side to side like a rocking boat, wiping and throwing more chucks (absorbant thingies) under her. She was on a ventilator, and attached to every imagineable piece of wiring and tubing as well. She was also restrained to protect her from pulling out her tube. For every roll, untie-move arms and legs, re-tie, and roll. Once we would get close to getting her clean, out would FLOW another round (she had had activated charcoal, ergo the flow.) So, three times, three strikes, about what seemed to be an hour passed. The RN from ICU, asks for a stopper-like-thingy that gets puts up there, and attaches to a bag, similar to a foley catheter for urine, to catch the next round and make our job much easier. Alas, no such animal in the ED. So, he jogs to his department and gets one. It only works if the flow is just that. A flow. If you have any chunks, it'll onlly act like the little boy and his finger in the dike. We get this in place, and soon she is moved to ICU.
Did I mention that during this adventure he is talking about how his friend in Iowa knows me from my previous work (professional bowling)? Oh yes, from TV as well. So we are talking a bit about bowling, I am breathing through my mouth, and we are rolling and wiping. Ask me again two years ago if I would have thought I would be doing this right now!
posted by kimberly at 5:59 AM
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