Memoirs of an Emergency Nurse by Nicholl Elizabeth

Author:Nicholl, Elizabeth [Nicholl, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Publisher: Elizabeth Nicholl
Published: 2012-07-29T18:30:00+00:00

Falling

The ambulance service had called through to warn us to expect a male patient who had fallen twenty feet and now had head, back and left arm injuries. He had been given 10mg of Morphine and an antiemetic drug called Maxalon. He was expected in ten minutes. The department was busy and short staffed so I continued to do a few minor treatments quickly before going to the resuscitation room and making it ready for the patient. Just as I’d finished, I heard the familiar ring of the paramedic doors opening I went to the door and greeted the paramedics, and ascertained that this was my expected patient. For the purpose of confidentiality, I shall call the patient John.

He was strapped securely onto a spinal board and his neck was in a hard collar and his head was taped into head blocks so that he couldn’t move his head and neck out of alignment. Once in the resuscitation room, John was transferred onto the emergency trolley from the paramedic trolley. We lined up the emergency trolley at the side of the narrow paramedic trolley and undid the seatbelts holding him into the trolley. With two paramedics at his left side and two nurses at his right, one doctor holding his feet and myself holding is head and neck, we informed John about the process of moving him across without bending his spine. He was advised to hold onto his elbows and on a count of three in unison we slightly lifted his right side up with the use of the sheet he was laid on, keeping his head and spine in line at all times, and placed a pat slide under his right hand half of body, this would assist us to slide him onto the next trolley. Once laid flat again, half on the pat slide, on the count of three, we all worked together and gently moved his body slowly onto the emergency trolley. The nurses on the right pulled him across with the paramedics on the left gently pushing his body across the slippery surface. Once on the emergency trolley, we all slightly lifted his right side without breaking spine alignment and removed the pat slide from underneath him.

As part of the assessment and high risk to spine after falling 20 meters, we began our assessment by cutting off his blood-soaked clothes. His left arm was bandaged, but it had soaked through a bright red colour. It had the metallic smell of blood. The paramedics were waiting so they could retrieve their spinal board, a hard thick plastic board that was rigid and offered maximum support and spine alignment when spinal injuries were indicated. With so many staff still in the resuscitation room, we again performed the log roll movement on John so that his back and neck could be assessed properly by the doctor.

The paramedic at John's head gave the command. “Is everyone ready? Roll after three….. One, two, three, roll.”

The doctor felt down John's spine from top to bottom.

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