Usually, the end of the day is pretty mellow. I spend my time getting things in order and getting ready for the next day. Not today!
During the last hour of work, a person was literally stroking out in the bathroom. Here’s what happened (as summarized by a supervisor):
Mrs. M was referred to outpatient PT for a complete rotator cuff tear by Dr. M. She arrived via a transport van from her assisted living facility. She was evaluated by Julie, PT. The patient was able to participate in the evaluation, walk into the treatment room and actively move her left arm. After the evaluation, the patient was very tired and required maximal assistance to transfer to a chair. At this time Julie actually wrote Dr. M and recommend Home Health PT as this trip to outpatient PT seemed to really exhaust her. The ambassador team was called and DP arrived with a w/c in which the PT transferred the patient to. The lift team was paged by the PT department to assist the ambassadors with the patient’s transfer to the car. As the patient was waiting for her ride, she told the ambassadors that she had to use the bathroom. Ambassadors SS and BR decided it was best to bring the patient to the hospital’s PT/OT department because the bathroom was big and the therapists could help if needed. They did not know the patient actually came from outpatient PT. Mariel, OT and Matt from the lift team were in the department when the patient arrived and kindly helped the patient go to the bathroom and get back in the w/c. It was then that Carter, PT and Resie, OT noticed that the patient was not talking and slumping to her left side. They evaluated the patient’s cranial nerves and noticed that the patient was drooling, exhibiting signs of left neglect and not moving her left arm. They paged Julie who came right over from the outpatient department and confirmed that there was a change in Mrs. M’s presentation from when she walked in to the department at 1:00. Mrs. M was immediately taken to the ED, conveniently located around the corner from hospital Rehab and a stroke code was called by the ED physicians. Mrs. M was found to have a hemorrhagic stroke and is now in the ICU.
It was great teamwork from everyone involved. As an inpatient therapist, I am now directly involved in Mrs. M’s care at the hospital. It was convenient that I was there when she was having her stroke because I witnessed it. It was an amazing day.