SeaCat
Hey, my Halo is smoking
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2003
- Posts
- 15,378
Had a new patient come onto the floor this morning. She came from a local Nursing Home with a massive Fungal Infection on both legs.
Now let me start in by say her legs looked absolutely terrible. The skin was cracked and oozing. The smell? Well lets say it was memorable.
Her Doctor was talking about how he had to debride her legs and how this was going to be incredibly painful for her as he did this. This basicly meant that he was going to rub or scrape off the dead tissue. I thought about this for a bit and asked him if it would be dangerous for her if the skin was made wet first. He thought that would be a good idea but there was no way it could be done in our hospital. The patient can't walk and we don't have any soak tubs.
Well I thought about it for a bit and told the Doc' I had an idea before getting to work. I took off for Central Supply with a rather odd request. When I came back I showed the Doctor what I was thinking. In my hands I held two of the larger room trash cans, we could soak her legs in these. He looked and listened then started grinning. He told me to start getting things ready and he would get some medication for the soak.
I transfered the patient from her bed to a chair. I then lifted her legs and slipped first a large pad under her feet then I placed her feet in the trash cans. Using a Basin I slowly filled the trash cans with hot water. AS I was doing this the Doc. came in and added some medication to the water and we allowed her to soak her legs for a while with me agitating the water and gently rubbing her legs down. I ended up changing the water four times to get rid of all the dead skin floating in it. We're talking it was coming off her legs in sheets and chunks. By the time I was done her legs looked nothing like they had when she came in. The Doctor looked at her legs and smiled before treating them and then wrapping them.
A couple of hours later the M.D. came back to the floor to check on her legs. He was grinning even more when he came out of her room this time. He came over to the Nurses Station and handed me a nice little letter he had written thanking me for finding a way to treat her without causing her undue pain.
Needless to say I was happy about this, it made my day.
Cat
Now let me start in by say her legs looked absolutely terrible. The skin was cracked and oozing. The smell? Well lets say it was memorable.
Her Doctor was talking about how he had to debride her legs and how this was going to be incredibly painful for her as he did this. This basicly meant that he was going to rub or scrape off the dead tissue. I thought about this for a bit and asked him if it would be dangerous for her if the skin was made wet first. He thought that would be a good idea but there was no way it could be done in our hospital. The patient can't walk and we don't have any soak tubs.
Well I thought about it for a bit and told the Doc' I had an idea before getting to work. I took off for Central Supply with a rather odd request. When I came back I showed the Doctor what I was thinking. In my hands I held two of the larger room trash cans, we could soak her legs in these. He looked and listened then started grinning. He told me to start getting things ready and he would get some medication for the soak.
I transfered the patient from her bed to a chair. I then lifted her legs and slipped first a large pad under her feet then I placed her feet in the trash cans. Using a Basin I slowly filled the trash cans with hot water. AS I was doing this the Doc. came in and added some medication to the water and we allowed her to soak her legs for a while with me agitating the water and gently rubbing her legs down. I ended up changing the water four times to get rid of all the dead skin floating in it. We're talking it was coming off her legs in sheets and chunks. By the time I was done her legs looked nothing like they had when she came in. The Doctor looked at her legs and smiled before treating them and then wrapping them.
A couple of hours later the M.D. came back to the floor to check on her legs. He was grinning even more when he came out of her room this time. He came over to the Nurses Station and handed me a nice little letter he had written thanking me for finding a way to treat her without causing her undue pain.
Needless to say I was happy about this, it made my day.
Cat
A bit more time and patience, as well as ingenuity, paid off. Good form.
