Saturday, January 29, 2011

Push pull the Pyxis

I remember when you went to round on a patient and the nurse would be right there to update you on what was going on and any of their concerns. If you had to pull a drain or chest tube, all the supplies would be right at the bedside. Not anymore. First, you cant tell who the nurse is. Most of the time the patient does know either. When you do find out who the nurse is, they are stuck somewhere entering stuff into a computer and cant seem to be made interested in anything else. When you finally track down the drain amounts and see you can pull the drain, you have to go to the locked medication/supply room. They all have these key locks, and of course you then have to track someone down to find out the code. Once you get in, all the supplies are locked into the Pyxis thing. This is like one of those big vending machines where you put your money in and coil spins and you hope what you are trying to buy drops into the chute where you can get to it. The Pyxis makes you enter a code, which of course is another step to track someone down to get, then you enter the supply that you need, and just like that bag of chips it sticks. You stand there and after a few seconds of making sure no one is looking start to push and pull the whole thing back and forth hoping that your suture removal set drops before the whole thing crushes you and puts you out of your misery. The suture removal set is all set to drop, you are eying it like a midnight secret snickers bar when all of a sudden the alarm goes off and the whole thing locks up! You then go to the ward clerk and borrow the scissors they have to cut the arm bands off the discharge patients and take the sutures out with them!

1 comment:

SeaSpray said...

I can imagine that scenario has made more than a doc or two get just a bit PO'd.

Funny post!

I mean I know it's a serious matter and all ..but the way you wrote it... too funny. :)

It's unbelievable ...all the road blocks between patient and medical staff ..for even the simplest of things. One can only hope their care isn't compromised. And then what about the toll of stress on the docs and nurses?