Tales From The Boo Boo Bus - The Tough Calls Not long ago was one of my worse days on a truck. Working a 12 hour day shift where the first several hours tend to be slow so we can get the truck ready at our pace and get coffee, etc. Well 1 hour in we were called to a rehab hospital for a PT eval for a fever. PT was sent to this rehab from a hospital about 45 minutes away the night before. I asked the nurse what the deal is and she says she just came on a couple hours before, noted the fever and gave tylenol. PT was fairly sweaty but the tylenol taking effect made sense. Blood glucose normal, a lower but normal BP. PT family wants PT back to original hospital, we suggest why not the closest ER? There had been a conversation between everyone and the family wants the PT back with the original docs at the hospital. On the way there the PT is steadily becoming worse. A revaluation shows the PT vitals declining and fairly quickly. We had approval to run lights/sirens and we of course we are in rush hour so I said to my partner lets hit it and at least get through this traffic. Upon arrival at the hospital we went through the ER and PT vitals were uber low. Systolic in the 70s Sats in the high 70s on 02. So what should have been a (routine) sick PT transfer turned ugly pretty quick. We tried to shake it off and had a busy rest of the day between 911 and transports. The whole day had a weird feeling about it. About 30 minutes to go in shift dispatch calls and says I have an easy one for you, short transfer to hospice. You can imagine what we had to say to each other. Arrive at the nursing home and the PT had gone into severe liver failure very recently, the family was shocked how quickly they declined. The nursing home staff was there given kisses to the PT and saying there were coming to visit after their shift, etc. Never before had I seen that. We took great care in loading the PT. The PT daughter sat in the back with me while I held the PT hand the daughter held the PTs head talked to her the entire way. Upon arrival to hospice the PT wont let go of my hand so all the way in I held the hand of a PT that most likely wasnt going to live through the night. I have done many hospice transfers but this one really got to both of us. We sat in the truck for a few minutes and tried to collect our thoughts/feelings. That day is still in my head all this time later. -T-K
Posted on: Fri, 23 May 2014 14:05:11 +0000
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