Just like that. Bam. Thump. Right to the ground she went. Before you knew it there were ten people hovering. I was writing a note on a patient. I walked over to see what was going on. She was awake. She was talking. She had a pulse. She looked a bit embarrassed by the whole ordeal. And then I heard it overhead:
Emergency Response Team to room 526.
I laughed. I told a nurse standing next to me if I did that I would cancel my own rapid response team. This is what you call vasovagal syncope, or neurocardiogenic syncope. I suspect I witnessed an up and coming occupational nursing hazard that will sweep this country. Vasovagal syncope is a benign process. It often occurs when one tries to strain in the bathroom. Old men get it with their enlarged prostates. Old ladies get it with their constipation issues.
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And nurses can get it when they try to lift morbidly obese patients. Is vasovagal syncope now becoming a common workplace nursing hazard? I think perhaps so. As a hospitalist, I’m kind of surprised I don’t see it more often up on the hospital floors.
As America’s waistline expands, could patient obesity lead to a new wave of occupational head trauma for our front line nurses? With all our resources aimed at preventing never events on patients, is it time we also turned our resources to prevent life threatening vasovagal syncope trauma for our nurses as well?
I think so. I hear unconfirmed rumors that OSHA, after conquering the life threatening food and drink at the nurses station issue will soon require all nurses to wear helmets and hip pads while mobilizing patients. And the Joint Commission will then require nurses to undergo yearly training seminars on how to operate the helmet correctly. And each time they adorn their protective gear, the Joint Commission will require them to document compliance with the documentation standard. And the Joint Commission will then require another nurse to document nursing compliance with the documentation requirements.
It is but a natural expansion of the current state of American health care. Helmets for everyone as we enter head first into a crash and burn.
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The Happy Hospitalist is a board certified internist who works in the hospital and writes regularly on several blogs, including The Happy Hospitalist.
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