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Fri 24 Nov, 2006 08:28 am
need advice from anesthetic/recovery nurse
Hello. I'm writing material to teach non-English-speaking nurses English, but don't have any nursing knowledge to base it on - just books and websites. Would anyone be kind enough to tell me if these two summaries of patients who've been operated on are realistic? Thanks in advance.
1. The patient, Victoria Hick, has had a total abdominal hysterectomy. She has a size 12 urine catheter in situ. She has non-dissolving sutures in the skin, which will need to be taken out in ten days. The patient has diabetes. Her heart rate is a bit slow, at around 40 beats per minute, and her blood pressure is 90/50. If her blood pressure drops, she should be given 200 micrograms of Atropine. Her breathing is OK but she should be given oxygen for the next 12 hours at 5 litres per minute. The wound is oozing a little. The patient has been given morphine for pain continue with 10 milligrams every four hours in tablet form. She has also had 10 milligrams of Metoclopramide intravenously for nausea.
2. The patient, Sam Bellfield, has had a right inguinal hernia repair. He has a drain in situ, and dissolving sutures in the skin. A pressure dressing has been applied, which will need removing after 12 hours. The wound is oozing a little. If this continues for a long time or gets worse, the surgeon should be informed. He has IV saline running over four hours. The patient�s blood pressure is 140/90, and his heart rate stable at around 70. He was given a local anaesthetic of 10 millilitres of Marcaine with Adrenaline to the skin. Give the patient Codeine for home use. The patient is allergic to Penicillin.
I don't quite understand why you are teaching nursing to non-English speaking nurses but don't have any nursing references. That doesn't make much sense to me. By the way, the first scenario defintely does not sound right. Atropine is not given for low blood pressure
Thanks for the reply Born2runRN. It's because there are not many nurses who also teach English. Also, I was hoping for more help from nurses!
Got your message Jim. What other questions do you have and/or how in depth of answers do you want. I can help if you wish. You can email my personal email at
[email protected]
Thanks!