and it felt damn good.
A patient came in to the ER last night complaining of weakness and generally not feeling good. She was pale and clammy; it was obvious that this lady was very sick. Because she’s a diabetic, outr first concern was low blood sugar. Her sugar was fine. We were still waiting for a doctor to come and see this lady, so I ordered an EKG while another nurse started an IV and drew lome lab work (our doctors allow us a good deal of autonomy in beginning treatment of a patient. No one expects us to stand around waiting for orders when a patient is that sick.). The EKG showed a marked bradycardia, so we moved the patient to the critical area and called the MD to the bedside STAT. Turned out that for no apparent reason the nice lady had an extremely high potassium level. While I took care of other patients, two of my coworkers continued treatment on the really sick lady. Her mental status declined, her blood pressure dropped dangerously low; this lady was dying before our very eyes. It was heartwrenching.
We called her priest, hoping he’d arrive in time to give her last rites --it was that close.
Shift ended. Three dayshift nurse stayed, including me, because we had to know the outcome. We continued treatment, which by then had become pretty basic, like holding her hand. We’d already tried everything else. Her EKG continued to deteriorate and we all stood vigil, hoping and praying she’d be okay. Then, in a matter of about three minutes, her heart rate and blood pressure began to climb and she turned the corner. The doc just looked at us for a second and then said “Nice save.”
A coworker and I went out to tell family that she was doing better, and the expressions on their faces reminded me why I do this job.
Nursing Education = $15,000
Giving someone good news for a change = priceless
