The Last Mon Standing

Have you ever heard of Case Management?

The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center defines Case management as;

a
collaborative approach to providing and coordinating health care
services. A nurse case manager will work with you, your family,
physicians and other health care providers to ensure you or your family
member receives all the necessary services to promote your health and
oversee any illnesses or health conditions while you or your family
member continues to live at home.

 

Our fourth year head
nurse today assigned me again to my previous patient. The first thing
that student nurses usually do after establishing rapport with the
patient and her family is to look for the contraptions that is inserted
on her body, like Oxygen tank, IVF infusions (dextrose) or Foley
catheters. I noticed that my patient’s drug, Mannitol, was not inserted
on her IV line. I looked closely and saw that there were ants crawling
along its tube and some has successfully infiltrated the soluset (this
is a small cylinder connected to IV lines like dextrose for Pediatric
Patients… it minimizes the diameter of the liquid’s drop.).

I
asked her mother what happened, and she said that they found out about
the ants early this morning so the staff nurse pulled out the Mannitol.

Before
lunch, I asked the mother if she’s going to feed the baby. She said
that she doesn’t have any penny left to buy a lunch. Her bedside
neighbor who was about to go home gave her her lunch which she didn’t
touch.

When I was writing my charting on my patient’s record, my
Clinical Instructor asked me about my patient. I told her about how
much the development of her status. Her head’s circumference is
increasing (hydrocephalus) 2 cm a day. She’s a bit tolerant now to me.
I also told her that the girl had a fever last night, and her
temperature only lowered after I gave her a bed bath this morning.

My
Clinical Instructor paused for awhile then told me to ask my classmates
for a contribution for the soluset. We all gave some and we gave the
money to the mother. She thanked us of course with teary eyes and we
are more than happy to help. I really wish the child all the luck. Our
group was not the first to do it though… it is actually already a
tradition.