Doing the right thing

I had a patient come in the other night............drunk with a head injury. As typical of us jaded ED nurses we kinda rolled our eyes and figured he was one of our regulars who had slightly bumped his head while intoxicated. That was not to be......

This man was someone who had only had 1 previous ED visit with us. He came in the ambulance doors with snoring respirations and his face covered in blood. He was immediately intubated and rushed to CT. Unresponsive throughout it all.

His CT scan showed a LARGE intracerebral bleed with a shift. Not a subdural bleed but intracerebral. His pupils were uneven too. We headed back to the ED and by then neurosurg was there to see him. After an exam and look at his CT it was evident that his prognosis was terminal. He was, in fact, brain dead in less than 24 hours. The only good thing that came of this is that his organs were harvested.

So...........you may be asking why the post is titled "Doing the right thing" with such a sad story?? Well, it gets sadder. This man was drinking at a friend's house that night and decided he was too drunk to drive home (he was, as his etoh level was 2x the legal limit) so stayed at the friend's house. He then got up at some point that night and fell causing his fatal head injury.

Just sad, so sad. He was only doing the right thing. I only hope that he is resting in peace at this time.

Resurection?

Perhaps it's time.............

For a resurection!!

Of this blog that is. I'm not gonna make any promises but I'm gonna give it an honest effort. Now that I'm an ED nurse I have TONS of great stories!! I have been an ED nurse for almost a year now. I think. Ha ha. I honestly cannot remember if I transferred to the ED in Nov of last year or January of this one. I could find out I'm sure, but honestly I don't care that much!!

I'm still on the fence as to whether ED nursing is for me too. I said I would give it a year and then reassess but closing in on that year I'm just not sure. Some days I love it and some days I utterly hate it. And then there is the in between ones too :-) Perhaps it is just the 12 years of inpatient nursing I did and how different the ED is. It could be any number of things, many of them which I could name but will just leave alone here. For now though, I'm staying put. Really where else would I go? I've done most of what my hospital has to offer......floor nursing, critical care, MET nurse and now ED. All that is left is NICU as our pediatric floor is a combined adult/pedi floor so holds no interest for me. And I think I'll save NICU for later in my career when my back is gone :p

Next post I won't just mutter along absently but will actually give you a story!! See ya then.