SeaCat
Hey, my Halo is smoking
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2003
- Posts
- 15,378
I'm working away this morning on the unit when I get a call to one of the rooms. When I show up there are a couple of R.N.'s in the room and a patient with a very nasty complexion.
The patient is puffing and panting, he can't catch his breath. He is wearing an Oxygen Mask but it doesn't seem to be helping. The R.N.'s are running in circles, they are talking about calling a cose or transfering the patient to the I.C.U.
I get one to slow down for a minute and ask them if the bed had been moved. She looked at me like I was nuts and then admitted that the bed had indeed been moved. I nodded, walked over to the bed and started checking things over even as they started yelling at me to get the portable Oxygen and start rolling the patient towards the I.C.U.
I ignored them, released the brake on the bed and rolled it about six inches. When I did this there was a loud his and the bag on the bottom of the patients mask started inflating again. The patients color started returning to normal and after a couple of minutes his breathing had returned to normal for him. The emergency was canceled.
The problem? (If you haven't figured it out already.) When the bed had been moved one of the tires had been accidently placed on the Oxygen Line pinching it off. The patient, because of his condition needed the oxygen and when it was cut off he went into respiratory distress.
As I reminded the R.N.'s, no matter the problem, unless the cause is glaringly obvious start with the simplest possible cause and work from there.
Another good example of this that I have often observed happens to deal with Motorcycles. I have seen a lot of them just stop running. The riders panic and start looking at the possible causes without thinking about the problem. I have learned that the first thing to check in this situation is: Is there gas? (Most motorcycles don't have gas gauges.) If you have gas then you work from there. Usually though the problem is something to do with the gas. (Usually it is the minor and very disconcerting fact that you have run out of gas.)
Another great example is the house I was called to last week. The problem was the house was hot inside. It wasn't cooling. The house watcher was going nuts. How was she going to tell the home owner that they needed a new A/C? I told her to calm down and let me check things out first.
I walked out back and found the compressor running. Okay that's a good sign. I walked inside and yes it was hot inside. Not a good sign. I looked at the Thermostat and found it was set and working correctly. Then I checked a couple of the vents and felt nothing. Aha.
I found the accesway beneath the house and grabbing a flashlight from my tool box I crawled under the house. Back by the compressor I found the ducting had come loose and seperated. I put it back together and the cold air started flowing into the house. I crawled back out, dug through my tool box and found a couple of sheet metal screws. I used these to replace the ones that had rattled out. Total time to find and fix the problem? Five minutes. (I wont tell you how much I got paid for this, it would make you shake your head.)
Cat
The patient is puffing and panting, he can't catch his breath. He is wearing an Oxygen Mask but it doesn't seem to be helping. The R.N.'s are running in circles, they are talking about calling a cose or transfering the patient to the I.C.U.
I get one to slow down for a minute and ask them if the bed had been moved. She looked at me like I was nuts and then admitted that the bed had indeed been moved. I nodded, walked over to the bed and started checking things over even as they started yelling at me to get the portable Oxygen and start rolling the patient towards the I.C.U.
I ignored them, released the brake on the bed and rolled it about six inches. When I did this there was a loud his and the bag on the bottom of the patients mask started inflating again. The patients color started returning to normal and after a couple of minutes his breathing had returned to normal for him. The emergency was canceled.
The problem? (If you haven't figured it out already.) When the bed had been moved one of the tires had been accidently placed on the Oxygen Line pinching it off. The patient, because of his condition needed the oxygen and when it was cut off he went into respiratory distress.
As I reminded the R.N.'s, no matter the problem, unless the cause is glaringly obvious start with the simplest possible cause and work from there.
Another good example of this that I have often observed happens to deal with Motorcycles. I have seen a lot of them just stop running. The riders panic and start looking at the possible causes without thinking about the problem. I have learned that the first thing to check in this situation is: Is there gas? (Most motorcycles don't have gas gauges.) If you have gas then you work from there. Usually though the problem is something to do with the gas. (Usually it is the minor and very disconcerting fact that you have run out of gas.)
Another great example is the house I was called to last week. The problem was the house was hot inside. It wasn't cooling. The house watcher was going nuts. How was she going to tell the home owner that they needed a new A/C? I told her to calm down and let me check things out first.
I walked out back and found the compressor running. Okay that's a good sign. I walked inside and yes it was hot inside. Not a good sign. I looked at the Thermostat and found it was set and working correctly. Then I checked a couple of the vents and felt nothing. Aha.
I found the accesway beneath the house and grabbing a flashlight from my tool box I crawled under the house. Back by the compressor I found the ducting had come loose and seperated. I put it back together and the cold air started flowing into the house. I crawled back out, dug through my tool box and found a couple of sheet metal screws. I used these to replace the ones that had rattled out. Total time to find and fix the problem? Five minutes. (I wont tell you how much I got paid for this, it would make you shake your head.)
Cat
