Natalie G Frederick
September 2024
Natalie G
Frederick
,
RN
Virtual Nurse Pool
Ochsner Medical Center-New Orleans
New Orleans
,
LA
United States

 

 

 

Natalie stayed on the phone with the patient for over an hour, trying to get her to calm down.
Today a 26-year-old patient called the Phone staff. She indicated she was in distress; she had just lost her 4th pregnancy to ectopic, and she was anxious and possibly suicidal. The patient was seen by WB OB GYN the previous day. Natalie stayed on the phone with the patient for over an hour, trying to get her to calm down. The patient did eventually pull over into a Walmart in Texas. The patient only spoke Spanish to confound the situation even more, so the interpreter was also on the phone for an hour. I prompted Natalie with questions and ideas to try to get the patient to walk into Walmart so we would know which Walmart to send the police/ambulance to. She would not get out of the car. She kept saying she did not want help, she only wanted an appt, but admitted to drinking, smoking and using illegal drugs and wanting to harm herself. She admitted that when she gets anxious, she pinches herself. She admitted that she and her husband had been fighting, and she was upset. I reached out to the OB at WB OMC to see if he could connect with the patient since he saw her just yesterday. They could never get a connection. The patient would not give us her location, car description, make or model, and refused to go to a hospital or UC. She was also on less than 5% power on her phone, which she was using for her GPS, and had no charger. I was on for 20 minutes, Natalie for over an hour, trying everything we could to get this young lady help. She states she will return to New Orleans tomorrow and try to get an appointment then. Natalie went above and beyond the call of duty, talking to this young lady for over an hour and trying everything she could to get her to help or help to her.