My father-in-law came in for an EGD and colonoscopy to rule out any bleed due to a continued decrease in his red blood cell count. During the prep for the procedure his pre-op nurse, Rene, noted that he had a large red area on his shoulder (the same location that he had a shoulder replacement a few years ago). He was unaware of it having been red the night before and he was experiencing no discomfort or pain in the area, but Rene asked him if she could call my mother-in-law back to show it to her. My mother-in-law took a picture of it and they continued to prep him for his procedure here. While he was in our OR, my mother-in-law texted the picture to his ortho surgeon who told her to bring him to his office after his procedure here. Three hours after he was discharged from here, he had been seen by his Ortho surgeon who immediately took him to the hospital and in an OR and found that he had developed a major infection that was surrounding his artificial joint. The surgeon pointed out that if it had gone unnoticed and left through the weekend (this all occurred on a Friday), it could have been a really bad outcome as the infection was very aggressive and since my elderly father-in-law is a diabetic, he could have become septic or lost total use of his shoulder due to the severity of the infection. In the end, it was determined that this infection was also the cause of his continual decrease in red blood cell count. He is well on the road to recovery and feels better now than he has in months.
Our family is very thankful to Rene, not just for noticing something as simple as a red area on a patient, but for going that extra step to ensure his family was made aware. This simple, yet extra effort resulted in a wonderful outcome medically for the patient. Nurses like her make me proud to work for South Florida Baptist Hospital.