The ER staff performed our good deed for the day.
We had a homeless guy who was found by park rangers nearly unconscious in his 'camp.' He had a raging pneumonia as well as a nasty cellulitis and skin breakdown on his buttocks from being incontinent for several days. He responded well to fluids and was feeling better. He told us he had been 'on the road' for years and had been passing through our are when he got sick. He had set up camp in an out of the way area in a state park to avoid being rousted by the park rangers when he got sick. His illness progressed very fast and he became so weak he could not stand or walk. Unable to get to help, he lay alone in his camp figuring he was going to die there.
He was so matter of fact when he told us this, it was rather heartbreaking. What brings a person to this?
He was feeling better, vital signs had been surprisingly stable and he was admitted but holding in the ER. We tucked him in and asked him if there was anything else we could do. "I sure would like a bath." I offered to give him a bed bath but he really wanted to sit in a tub of nice hot water. "my bones ache and it's been a long, long time since I sat in a tub." He said, wistfully.
Well, what the heck. It was surprisingly slow in the ER, we had plenty of staff and - more importantly- no one was around in PT!
Two of us loaded him up in a wheelchair and took him over to PT where we filled up one of their big whirlpools and helped him in. We helped him wash and shave and then just let him soak for awhile.
He needed IV fluids, he needed antibiotics but the thing that made the biggest difference to him was a nice hot bath. It was nice to have the time to do it.
Wouldn't it be great to always have the time to give the kind of nursing care you want to give instead of rushing around pushing pills into people and filling out forms?
Sunday, June 15, 2008
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18 comments:
That's why people go into nursing isn't it. And you don't get to do much of that anymore.
How is he recovering?
Whenever I get a new admit at the nursing home I work in I always offer a shower if they've been given clearance. They often come to us from the hospital after surgery (I'm in the rehab unit) and they often haven't been able to bathe and it makes their transistion much easier.
This is the spirit of nursing. Thanks for sharing such a great story.
Nothing a nice hot tub can't cure......
I had the same request years ago, after a week in ICU with a broken hip and internal bleeding. Just wanted a a bath--so my nurse padded down a a tub so it wouldn't hurt to sit down and hoisted me into a tub for an hour. Even without a rubber duckie, it was HEAVEN! Of the few things I remember about that hospitalization, that sticks in my mind!
We used to have a "regular" shower with a tub and everything waaay back in the ED near the storeroom. No one used it; I think they stored mops in there.
I had a slow night with a homeless lady who was brought in for cellulitis and being unable to care for herself; she had been incontinent and her clothes were so full of unnameable things that I knew a bed bath wasn't going to make a dent.
So I lined the tub with sheets, put a commode in the shower, and sat her down (I didn't want her to fall and crack her head open) and let her wash up.
She was so happy when she was clean. It was really nice.
Heh.
And then you have the jokers who could easily afford a bath but apparently don't believe in 'em and come in stinking to high heaven...
And it is the best when a patient really appreciates what you have done. Makes you want to come back to work the next day.
I've been in the hospital 4 times. 3 c-sections and one bad bone break which required surgery and a stay after.
The two things that I will never forget?
one nurse who had 20 minutes or so who gave me the most delicious backrub after one of the babies was born.....and the other nurse that helped me to wash my stringy, greasy, dirty hair after my surgery. I had gotten tossed off a horse into the dirt, and had no way to bathe or wash my hair without help. Washing my hair to get that dirt out made me feel so much better.
Bless all you nurses who can manage those little (and big) things that make your patients more comfortable.
:)
Thanks for sharing this!
Thanks for helping the guy out :-) Restores my faith in humanity!
I `m a community nurse from (Valencia) Spain.
I think you had wrote the essence of nursing care.
Thank you
Wow.. how wonderful that you were able to offer this homeless man a hot bath..the little things in life are worth a million bucks..Nursing is about our caring hearts..thanks for sharing and helping others in this world..My 45th nursing reunion is this month..Hugs, Baba
I loved that part of nursing... the patients seem so grateful for little things. Back in the eighties, I was working on a coronary step down unit and occasionally in the afternoons, I would wash and set a woman's hair on rollers and brush it out later. That did more for their morale than the nitro. Clean hair feels so good! (Of course, those were the days when they allowed hospital stays of more than fifty-three minutes)
We had a full shower put in our new ED, but we don't have anywhere to give a bath... Our PT department is 5 floors away...
You rock, Dearie!! This is nursing at it's best. What separates us from other HCPs is our caring.
God bless you :)
To all the trolls out there, we aren't hardened, insensitive people who need to get out of healthcare. This is what we WANT to do, not take care of drugseekers or do paperwork because JCAHO says to.
Florence Nightingale was dumb enough to think that this sort of thing actually helped sick people get better faster. How silly! We don't talk about this kind of thing much because we are adverse to the stereotype of the nurse as a kind, but unskilled and ignorant menial performing mindless tasks that any untrained person could do. I hate that foolish, ignorant stereotype. However, like mother Nightingale, I am so stupid and silly that I also think that this stuff helps sick people get better faster.
But then, I am just a dumb nurse.
God bless you. Keep on doing what you are doing. Appearances are deceiving. What you do matters much more than is apparent.
despite hospital administration, supervisors and managers, Nurses still know how to provide comfort.
Do you need some help? he asked
doesn't everybody? he replied
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