The Lost Art of Patient Care

I recently read something a friend of mine wrote about an experience she had with her husband’s surgeon. Reading through her words and imaging the pain and anger she felt hit me to my core. Her husband having had a complex heart surgery had complications post operatively. The surgeon never came to check on him as he struggled and nearly died in the intensive care unit. As I was reading her words I wondered to myself when did we start to lose the love and devotion for our jobs? When did taking care of patients become a burden? When did we lose the art of patient care? 

I say 'we' because it spans over the whole of medical professionals.

I remember the first time I was shocked by a physician leaving a patient situation. I was a Labor and Delivery nurse at the time, and the General Medical Education board had just changed the duty hours of resident physicians. We were in the middle of an emergency cesarean section (baby was out and doing ok) when the resident looked at the attending and from behind his surgical mask informed her that he was now over his duty hours for the week. He scrubbed out and left the operating room. I was shocked. Everyone in the operating room just kind of stood there for a second and I am sure we were all thinking the same thing, what in world?! 

I say that it spans the whole of medical professionals because I also had an experience several years later when I then was a nurse in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care (CVICU). I was assigned a student nurse for my shift. Glad to have some extra hands I got into teaching mode. When it was time for our patient to have a glucose check the student looked at me and said, "oh I have already been signed off on those, so I don't need to do them anymore."  When those words came out of his mouth all I saw was red. And the conversation went something like this.... I’m sorry what? I don't think I heard you. Your badge says student, correct?! That means you are here to learn! I don't care how many blood sugar checks are left in this shift, you will do every single one of them and if you tell me again that you won't, we will be having a conference with your instructor! 

I was a student once and I soaked in every single moment I could from my preceptors. They all had something to teach and I was hungry to learn. I could never have imagined saying that to one of my preceptors. Not ever. And here I was standing in front of the next batch of nurses who thought they didn't need to take a blood sugar.

Another experience I had in CVICU was with a physical therapist. Her and her aide were working with a patient on out of bed transfers using a lift. At some point while they were working with the patient the patient experienced an accident. Instead of pushing the call light to notify us we needed to come to the room, they laid the patient back in the bed in the soiled linens and went to the computer to chart and left. Moments later the patient called me to the room to tell me what happened. Again, I saw red. Why would you ever treat someone like that! I notified my charge nurse who called the house supervisor to report the incident so that they could call their supervisors. These things shouldn't happen. 

I go back to thinking about the surgeon my friend dealt with and the resident. I know that they have lives. I know that they are tired. I know that they are under a lot of stress, I see it. I live it every day. I myself get frustrated at times when birthdays are missed, trips out of town are canceled, the kids go weeks without seeing their dad, but I have to remember someone else's child needs him. He has never once to this day not answered a page, a call, an email from a nurse, another attending or even a patient family member. He goes back when they ask or even if they don't. He never misses a lab draw or a change in status. He often sits at his patient’s bedside watching, waiting. If he is home, he is attached to his phone watching the lab values as they are resulted. I am not saying he is perfect. Lord knows we are still trying to figure out how to balance life on the edge of the scalpel. But he is a throwback to a generation that served their patients. In my years in the medical profession I have worked with so many outstanding professionals, but I can't deny that the things I saw concern me for the future. If we become detached, lose our compassion, our pride in our work and our servants heart then what is left?

The Long Road

When I first started this blog a few years ago it was because I felt like sharing what it was like being married to a surgeon. Everyone and their dog watches Grey's Anatomy (ok, so do I) however that is not what our life is like. It is not one hour blocks of amazing, life saving intense scenes. It is a struggle. It is a huge amount of sacrifice and a lot of ups and downs. It is real.

I met my husband eleven years ago when he was a second year family medicine resident. Two years later he started general surgery residency. Five years after that he started adult cardiothoracic surgery residency. Two years after that he started his fellowship for congenital cardiac surgery. All of those years. All of those moments. All of those sacrifices and today was the culmination of all of it. He got word that he passed his congenital cardiac surgery boards. He is now, one of the very few (if not only) quadruple boarded physicians in the United States. 

I have no words for how proud I am of him. He has dedicated the majority of his life (he is 35 years young) to his training. He has a story that still amazes me and I love to share it. Graduating high school at 15, undergraduate by 17, MD by 21 and then 11 years of residencies that followed. He gives as much to his patients as he did to his training. His drive and ambition, immeasurable. More things are to come in our lives as we continue to balance life on the edge of the scalpel.

Oh Boomer 🐹

The first time Boomer went on a late night adventure we scoured the internet looking for ways to entice him to come back to his home after having spent hours looking for him. There were plenty of suggestions because apparently it is not uncommon for these furry friends to make jail breaks. The most popular suggestion was to place his home on the ground with fresh food and treats and he will likely return. And they were right. By the next morning he was happily snuggled back into his little house in his habitat. Kids were happy, mom was especially happy, and all was well in the world again. I was grateful we survived our hamster adventure and took extra care to make sure that would not happen again. But it did. Several times in fact. I believe Boomer to be some kind of escape artist. He most times would stay in the upstairs bathroom, nestled in until we found him in his favorite corner of the linen closet. Occasionally he would venture out and be found under our oldest son's bed. And of course the one time he paid me a nice visit in the downstairs hallway bathroom.
The first night he was gone this time we tried the same tactic that worked the first time. Knowing he was no longer in the upstairs bathroom we placed his home in the upstairs hallway with a fresh bowl of food and treats. The next morning we woke and everything was as we had left it. Boomer had obviously made the dangerous trek down the 15 stairs and had made it to the main floor as I had thought. So we spent a lot of yesterday pulling out furniture, appliances etc again but he continued to evade us. So last night I decided to put his home in the middle of the living room floor. I knew if I were to find our little friend it would likely be in the middle of the night and so at 320am when I found myself awake I decided to check his cage. Yep he'd been in there. But he wasn't anymore. His treats gone, his food bowl moved, the evidence obvious. But no Boomer. And so off I went. It took me all of about five minutes to go into the kitchen to make a cup of tea when I saw his furry self scurry across the floor trying to find a new hiding spot. Caught ya! And so off we went on our struggle, him trying to remain a free man (we think he's a he) and I trying to wrangle the furry creature like trying to catch a pig in slop. Eventually the reality hit him that I was not giving up until he was secured in his home, either that or he just got too tired from running and he let me catch him. He was safely placed back in his home, at which time he went to his water container and drank like a kid in the sun on a summer day. And so his adventure ended at 430 this morning. Until next time Boomer.....

Blog Résurrection: The Missing Hamster

It is hard to imagine it has been over a year and a half since my last blog post. As I sit here tonight, with a million other things I could be doing, I felt compelled to resurrect my blog.
A laundry basket sits in the corner with nice clean clothes waiting to be folded.
My text book sitting next to me with two more chapters to read by Friday.
My computer screen with my school browser open in another tab waiting for discussion dialog to take place with my classmates.
My Windows program open with my half finished assignment that is also due on Friday.
Oh and Boomer, where is that guy?!
The kids and I have spent the better part of today on a hamster search and rescue mission. His last known whereabouts were around 8pm yesterday evening when the kids fed him his carrots and seeds. My youngest, having gone back in at some point before he went to bed, opened the cage door enticing him on another late night adventure.
This is not the first time our furry friend has escaped and went roaming around. Often times we locate him fairly quickly. There was one early morning several months ago he paid me a surprise visit in the hallway bathroom. I did not have my glasses on at the time but as I walked in and turned on the light a furry blob entered my visual field and sat by my feet. Well, good morning to you too Boomer. The part that perplexed me the most was how in the world he had gotten so far. Normally he stays in the kid's upstairs bathroom. The convenience of tile flooring and away from the general public made the placement of his home there practical. He had to travel down 15 stairs that are longer than the length of his body and still continue on his adventure through the house to find his way to that bathroom. When he did have his previous escapee adventures he would mostly stay in the bathroom, hanging out in there waiting for us to find him, offer him a treat and place him back in his home. This adventure however has lasted a little longer than I am comfortable with. We have looked in every corner, under every single piece of furniture in this house. There seems to be no place we have not looked and yet he continues to evade us. And so we go to sleep tonight wondering where is our friend Boomer and a reminder to everyone to make sure they turn the lights on when they get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.

My hope is to continue to write on my blog as I find I have missed this outlet and writing over the last 19 months. Hopefully I can catch up on all of the things that have happened and the shenanigans that continue to happen in our house as we continue to balance life on the edge of the scalpel.....To be continued