SeaCat
Hey, my Halo is smoking
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2003
- Posts
- 15,378
We had a good crew on duty today and things were going well. We were busy as hell but that's nothing new when you run with a short crew. Because it was a good crew everyone was working together.
Then at about 1000 my work phone rings. (We all carry special Cell Phones.) I answered it as I usually do during the weekend. "Harries Happy Hookers, you pay to play." The reply I got was the tense voice of the Vharge Nurse telling me they needed me in a room on another team ASAP. I hustled down the hall to the room and was stopped outside the room. I was told the patient was an agitated young woman who had been sent up from the E.R.
No one could understand her, hell no one could figure out what language she spoke and we had people there who spoke French, Spanish, Creol and Russian. I was also informed that she was more than aggitated and refused to move from the stretcher.
I walked into the room and chased everyone else out. I stood at the foot of the stretcher and just looked at her for a minute. The patient was a young woman, small and light weight and curled up in the fetal position. It took her a couple of minutes before she noticed me standing there alone looking at her. As soon as she saw me she said something and lowered her head again. I thought I recognised what she had said but I wasn't sure so I asked her to repeat herself, only I did so in German. When she heard this she perked up a bit and started talking, I could barely understand her and told her so while asking her to wait a minute as I ran to my locker and pulled out my translation book.
When I returned I showed her the book and she actually smiled. We talked for a bit and I got some much needed info. Little things like her name and what was bothering her. (Severe Abdominal Pain. They had at least figured that much out in the E.R. and had put her on a pain killer.) After a short while and much talking and fumbling for my forgotten German I had her calmed down enough to pick her up and move her to the bed. I got her stretched out and started doing an assesment while I continued talking to her.
Within minutes I had a good idea of what was going on and waved for the Charge Nurse to enter. I introduced her and then told her what I had found and what I thought. The Charge Nurse passed this on to the M.D. who came up to the room immediatly. I had to help him with his exam and explain what he wanted her to do. Within five minutes X-Ray was there. Ten minutes later the young lady was on her way to Surgery. The problem? Ruptured Apendix.
She spoke a variant of German mixed with Italian, she comes from Switzerland. It was because of the Italian mixed in that no one recognised it for what it was.
Now the funniest part of all of this. As I was working with the young lady one of the women from Dietary Services came into the room looking for a tray. While she was there she overheard us speaking in German. When she got downstairs she complained to her supervisor who sent the complaint on to the unit. When I heard of the complaint I almost pissed myself. She had complained that I was speaking a language other than English within hearing of the patients. (A Hospital Regulation.) The thing is, this woman and most of the dietary crew regularly speak Creol in the hallways and even when they are in the patients rooms.
If I hear about this tomorrow then I'll be laughing my ass off.
Oh the patient? She came through the surgery without problems and is now on another unit with a translation phone set up next to her bed.
Cat
Then at about 1000 my work phone rings. (We all carry special Cell Phones.) I answered it as I usually do during the weekend. "Harries Happy Hookers, you pay to play." The reply I got was the tense voice of the Vharge Nurse telling me they needed me in a room on another team ASAP. I hustled down the hall to the room and was stopped outside the room. I was told the patient was an agitated young woman who had been sent up from the E.R.
No one could understand her, hell no one could figure out what language she spoke and we had people there who spoke French, Spanish, Creol and Russian. I was also informed that she was more than aggitated and refused to move from the stretcher.
I walked into the room and chased everyone else out. I stood at the foot of the stretcher and just looked at her for a minute. The patient was a young woman, small and light weight and curled up in the fetal position. It took her a couple of minutes before she noticed me standing there alone looking at her. As soon as she saw me she said something and lowered her head again. I thought I recognised what she had said but I wasn't sure so I asked her to repeat herself, only I did so in German. When she heard this she perked up a bit and started talking, I could barely understand her and told her so while asking her to wait a minute as I ran to my locker and pulled out my translation book.
When I returned I showed her the book and she actually smiled. We talked for a bit and I got some much needed info. Little things like her name and what was bothering her. (Severe Abdominal Pain. They had at least figured that much out in the E.R. and had put her on a pain killer.) After a short while and much talking and fumbling for my forgotten German I had her calmed down enough to pick her up and move her to the bed. I got her stretched out and started doing an assesment while I continued talking to her.
Within minutes I had a good idea of what was going on and waved for the Charge Nurse to enter. I introduced her and then told her what I had found and what I thought. The Charge Nurse passed this on to the M.D. who came up to the room immediatly. I had to help him with his exam and explain what he wanted her to do. Within five minutes X-Ray was there. Ten minutes later the young lady was on her way to Surgery. The problem? Ruptured Apendix.
She spoke a variant of German mixed with Italian, she comes from Switzerland. It was because of the Italian mixed in that no one recognised it for what it was.
Now the funniest part of all of this. As I was working with the young lady one of the women from Dietary Services came into the room looking for a tray. While she was there she overheard us speaking in German. When she got downstairs she complained to her supervisor who sent the complaint on to the unit. When I heard of the complaint I almost pissed myself. She had complained that I was speaking a language other than English within hearing of the patients. (A Hospital Regulation.) The thing is, this woman and most of the dietary crew regularly speak Creol in the hallways and even when they are in the patients rooms.
If I hear about this tomorrow then I'll be laughing my ass off.
Oh the patient? She came through the surgery without problems and is now on another unit with a translation phone set up next to her bed.
Cat
