Sometimes in the RT world, you have to do the right thing instead of the correct thing.
Today I had a patient who was being discharged home. I walked in to give him his 11:00 treatment and saw him putting on his raggedy clothing, well-worn khakis and shoes that had seen a million miles. He smiled at me from behind weathered glasses and murmered delightedly, “I’m goin’ home!”
“Good! That’s great!”
“I’ll keep doin’ these treatment things at home. I was doin’ em before too, but the things broke and I cain’t afford me a new one.”
“What thing is broken? The compressor?”
“Naw, that works fine, it’s the part you squirt the stuff into. It don’t work. I have to shake it all the dang time. It only mists half the time I turn it on.”
I questioned the patient further for a few minutes and determined that the problem was something to do with the baffle inside the nebulizer. When he shook it just right, the baffle baffled and the medicine nebulized; when it slipped, the nebulizing stopped.
Now, the correct thing to do in this case would be to tell him to call his homecare company and have some new nebs sent out. But he hasn’t seen his homecare people in years. The sound of it is that he’s had the neb for a decade and wouldn’t even begin to know where to look for supplies. The homecare company probably doesn’t even remember him.
So I did what I viewed to be the right thing. I grabbed two salter nebs from our supply room, showed the patient how to set them up, stuffed them in a treatment bag, and handed them to him.
“This is our little secret. I’m probably not supposed to give you those, but you need them more than we do.”
“I appreciate that. Maybe now my nebulator will work and I won’t have to come in here no more.”
“…well, I sure hope so. Good luck to you.” We shook hands, I left the room, and I think that in some small way what I did for him mattered more than any of the other 100 treatments I passed out that day. Sometimes, taking a few extra minutes and bending a few minor rules can accomplish more than an hour of bureaucracy can.
Sometimes in the RT world, you have to do the right thing instead of the correct thing.
Today I had a patient who was being discharged home. I walked in to give him his 11:00 treatment and saw him putting on his raggedy clothing, well-worn khakis and shoes that had seen a million miles. He smiled at me from behind weathered glasses and murmered delightedly, “I’m goin’ home!”
“Good! That’s great!”
“I’ll keep doin’ these treatment things at home. I was doin’ em before too, but the things broke and I cain’t afford me a new one.”
“What thing is broken? The compressor?”
“Naw, that works fine, it’s the part you squirt the stuff into. It don’t work. I have to shake it all the dang time. It only mists half the time I turn it on.”
I questioned the patient further for a few minutes and determined that the problem was something to do with the baffle inside the nebulizer. When he shook it just right, the baffle baffled and the medicine nebulized; when it slipped, the nebulizing stopped.
Now, the correct thing to do in this case would be to tell him to call his homecare company and have some new nebs sent out. But he hasn’t seen his homecare people in years. The sound of it is that he’s had the neb for a decade and wouldn’t even begin to know where to look for supplies. The homecare company probably doesn’t even remember him.
So I did what I viewed to be the right thing. I grabbed two salter nebs from our supply room, showed the patient how to set them up, stuffed them in a treatment bag, and handed them to him.
“This is our little secret. I’m probably not supposed to give you those, but you need them more than we do.”
“I appreciate that. Maybe now my nebulator will work and I won’t have to come in here no more.”
“…well, I sure hope so. Good luck to you.” We shook hands, I left the room, and I think that in some small way what I did for him mattered more than any of the other 100 treatments I passed out that day. Sometimes, taking a few extra minutes and bending a few minor rules can accomplish more than an hour of bureaucracy can.