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J U N E 2 0 1 4 | O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
John D. Kelly IV, MD
CUTTING REMARKS
Recovery Room Blues
Things don't always go as planned in PACU.
I
love my job. I get to
help folks every
day and rejoice
when patients tell me
that their shoulder
pain has gone or that
they can sleep at
night. Sadly, not every
patient encounter is
wine and roses. Every
surgeon and nurse
knows that in a given
day, anything can happen. Here are some of the nightmares I have
experienced after successful surgeries.
•
Narcotized nightmare.
One unfortunate event I see is the overly narco-
tized patient. Perhaps these souls are more sensitive to morphine than
an in-law is to criticism. Or, perhaps they lied about reactions to med-
ications. Regardless, my worst memories involve hearing the dreaded
words: "code blue PACU." After completing the successful surgeries
and assuring the families that "the case went well," I have suffered
through several, ahem, events in the PACU. On one occasion, while
scrubbed in for surgery, the head nurse sauntered in and exclaimed
"Dr. Kelly, your last patient is coding!"
Three Hail Marys and 2 Xanax pills later, I discovered my petite
female patient had an extreme sensitivity to morphine. Micrograms
could turn her into the Mummy. Thank God for Narcan! On another
occasion, when visiting a post-op patient in the PACU, I discovered
Perhaps nothing is more troubling than
seeing a normally good-natured person
become Rambo before my very eyes.
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