DALLAS, TX – Reports are coming in that during the care of the Liberian Ebola victim, the lead physician told his nurse: “Let’s go into the room together. I’ll be right behind you.” Dr. Wesles, an infection disease specialist, showing his chivalry by opening the door with one arm while the other was waving her in. He continued: “While we are inside I’ll make sure to tell you what to touch and what not to, making sure I cover all the life-saving contact precautions,” he said to the nurse in the hallway, prior to going in the room.
“I don’t know anything about Ebola, Dr. Wesles!” she told him in the doorway.
“Don’t worry, I’ll go over everything about this very deadly disease once we are inside. Just make sure you pay very close attention to what I go over because we don’t have a protocol yet. No need to waste time out here in the hall, let’s just go on in.”
As the two were walking in Dr. Wesles was paged, turned around and attended an emergent noon conference on EHR coding. They were serving enchiladas compliments of Pfizer. At press time the nurse was changing the Foley catheter, rectal tube, and NG tube with ripped gloves because they were too small; the hospital was saving money by cutting back on larger gloves and masks.
Yep. Been there, done that, never even received a lousy t-shirt. Just a mouthful of amniotic fluid, blood, mucus, and meconium aspirate.
Nurse #2 called the hospital and asked if it was safe to go on her trip. They gave her permission.
Too late!
In out ICU we’ve decided that well just anchor a foley, place a small bowel and just stay in the room for 12 hrs vs having to worry about how we are supposed to take off and put on the non existent equipment with no training and no help!
Who doesn’t “support” them? What are you talking about? Quit whining and playing the victim. Baby.
Jessica Crowe
Maybe we should start supporting all healthcare workers who put their time and health on the line to care for patients. The anti-doctor propaganda is discouraging at best and frankly insulting when coming from our own nursing colleagues that we respect. Lets remember the first american diagnosed was a physician and he has donated his plasma to help this nurse. It was not her “fault” she got this disease nor did any physician put her in harms way. Lets start defending each other since the public is so busy condemning those who risk for them- nurses and doctors alike.
Sadly this feels more realistic than satire.
Monday, our hospital dealt with a genuine scare from a febrile patient just in from Liberia. Thankfully she tested negative. It just hit a bit too close to home and we are a little prickly about it right now. I’ll be back to loving your page by next week.
I agree, but to automatically assume a protocol breach without taking the time to review all the other screw ups is careless. Listening to the nurses unions concerns earlier today they bring up many good points that make me think, nursing/hospital personnel faced many potential dangers before the initial Ebola patient was placed in isolation and protocols initiated.
no sorry let me clarify for some….. HYPOTHETICALLY SPEAKING….this would be the “WRONG place to make cutbacks……….”. do to hospital infectious disease protocol/precautions and could be lawsuits and joint commission this should never happen.
They didn’t have the proper equipment Victoria Morgan. Which isn’t hard to imagine if you’re an RN that’s worked in a hospital anywhere.
Meh. I”m an RN. I think if you breached protocols you deserve some of the blame. The facility does too but the RN aint as pure as the driven snow.
Donna Steventon I’ll b right behind you
Please look up the definition of satire…
A bunch of ignorant people need to get their heads out of their asses…..Instead of the “living dead”, we’re just all gonna be DEAD!!!!
Awesome as always gomerblog.
However- we can blame nurse #2 for getting on an airplane. Pretty sure that was never allowed in protocol.
-“the hospital was saving money by cutting back on larger gloves and masks. ” WRONG place go make cut backs!!! actually sad they would make anyone do those types of bedside procedures with “ripped” gloves.
Right, and if you get sick and stay home as you should, you run the risk of getting fired. Therefore, you’ve got frontline health care workers como g to work sick because they need their jobs. People who have direct contact with patients should not have the same sick time rules applied to them as office workers.
LMAO! Not too soon if you have the sense of humor required to survive being a nurse! Seriously, I think we should be regarded as highly as cops, firefighters and soldiers! We do our job and care for people despite the risks. And we often don’t have the protection and support we need (which is WRONG and should be remedied – maybe the upside of Ebola is it might make this happen? Ha.).
Ya gotta laugh, if not you’ll go crazy in this world…perfect timing as always Gomer!
I said this exact thing to my husband as soon as the first nurse was diagnosed!
Nurses rock!!! As a physician, I continue to be in awe for all that they do!
Reminds me of my ER days when a patient would become violent! “I got your back!” Right……
Do y’all remember the old delee meconium aspirator? Manual suction instead of wall. Heard several Drs tell the nurse to “come here, suck on this”
Not to soon and close to DEAD ON!!! Union and non-union nurses have always and continue to fight for our safety in staffing/patient load/protocol/ect yet we continue to be the dumping ground for problems but not praised for what we are *the ones that actually keep the Dr’s, administration, JAHCO,….from killing them!!!
Time to protect us too!
My thought for the day… They are few and far between
Don Imus had a great clip this morning. The Ebola song sung to the tune of Lola by the kinks. Hilarious. We must laugh. We can do our job and maintain our sanity with a sense of humor
Sad
I love your blog & humor … But this may be a little too soon and a little too raw, even for such great satire
SOP: Blame the nurse.
I could almost see this actually happening.
Right!
Not soon enough. Too late. This is the shit we deal with on a daily basis: risking our own health & those of our families LONG before Ebola became disease du jour.
Exactly. How did hospital administration avoid this blame? We love our nurses!
Right on time, especially since the nurses are shouldering much of the blame when it appears they don’t deserve it.
No, not too soon. Hospital admin must step up, & start supporting the nursing staff. In fact, it may be too late.
I don’t think it’s too soon—–a cynical look at a tragic situation.
Nope, not too soon.
When satire is so close to reality, it makes for A+ reading.
Spot on.
What makes this so funny is how sad it is to being close to reality.
Yup. Too soon.
Right on time
Too soon