Here's a quick funny story for you.
The other night I had a patient at the very end of the hall. Of course, this patient would be the one who gets sickest. It ALWAYS happens that way. And, once again, I got the gem of the assignments and had both ends of the hall. I actually kind of like it because I get some extra exercise.
So, true to form, in the middle of the night, my patient started bleeding. Not uncommon, we are a hospital after all. However, this was A. Lot. of bleeding. And it was spurting out with their pulse. And it wouldn't stop. I have a nursing student with me this semester doing her senior semester capstone, and after I held direct, hard pressure for oh, 7 minutes (some of the longest minutes ever, by the way), I had her go find another nurse for a second opinion.
While I'm holding pressure, I'm chatting with the patient to make sure they are stable and not losing consciousness, etc...I mean I would categorize the blood loss as small to moderate, but it just wasn't stopping, so I was concerned.
The patient says, "Don't worry about me. I'm not going to bleed out. Just slap a bandage and tape on it, and let me go back to sleep."
I ignored the patient and was like "Yeah, you're not bleeding out on my watch, which is why I'm standing here holding this until the bleeding stops."
They rolled their eyes and covered their head with a pillow. Love it.
Anyway, another nurse comes in to help me and 20 MINUTES LATER the bleeding FINALLY stops. I bandage everything up, get a blood pressure, etc and go call the doctor.
Our conversation went like this:
Me: "I'm calling about patient X. Their [body part that was bleeding] started bleeding again, and I had to hold pressure for at least 20 minutes before it stopped. They soaked [a bunch of gauze, but the medical term for it]. The patient's vitals are stable, but I thought that 20 minutes was a bit excessive to hold pressure. Obviously, I'm watching the patient quite closely now.
Doctor: "Wait, how much gauze? And the blood pressure is ok? 20 minutes is a long time. Keep me posted and if the patient starts bleeding again, we'll come and rescue you."
My question: But will that potential rescue involve a white horse and armor of some kind? And, possibly, a sword?
Luckily for all involved, there was no more bleeding that night.
