Externship: Week 2

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

After calling this particular patient (6' 4" tall, 50ish-year-old man), measuring his height, weight and BMI and escorting him to an examination room and closing the door, things became a little interesting.

As is routine for our particular office I asked the patient to sit in the chair with his feet flat on the floor then asked him the reason for his visit. He stated he had been suffering from a cold for a few days but today started feeling dizzy and lightheaded. (The exam rooms become hot and stuffy very quickly so I opened the door.)

It was at that point that I had a good look at his face and, as a mother, I could tell he was not feeling well at all. After measuring his blood pressure and pulse (both WNL) I explained to him that I would let the doctor know he was waiting for him.

I found the doctor quickly and explained the patient's symptoms to him and he asked me to measure his blood pressure laying down and then again standing up.

I returned to the patient's room and explained to him what I would be doing next and helped him onto the exam table. After helping him to lie down on the table I took a step backwards to grab the blood pressure machine -- but never made it that far. Sounding slightly panicked, the patient tells me he is going to throw up.

Sure enough, he does. In the sink (thank goodness!). For several awful (for him) minutes this big man is throwing up in the sink and in between chunks he is apologizing profusely to me! I stayed right next to him with my hand on his back reassuring him that if he was going to be sick, this was the place to do it.

When his active vomiting started spacing a little further out I asked him if he felt steady on his feet. He assured me he was so I left the room to summon the doctor. The patient stated to the doctor that he was feeling much better and felt able to drive himself home.

As I escorted him to the front desk to check out he was still apologizing to me for throwing up in the sink.

After the patient left I returned to the room and disinfected everything in the room -- even though he had only thrown up in the sink.

On a lighter note, a husband/wife I took care of last week returned to our office today and remembered me! By name!