[RC one]

I had a patient one time that had been admitted already when I picked her up. I was training a new nurse that day. She was admitted for tachycardia-her heart rate was elevated. Something told me that the tachycardia was not cardiac but likely from a fever from an infection. So I rechecked the temperature which had previously been recorded as being normal and it was like 102 degrees or something. It was high. So I was like, OK, let's get a urine specimen that should have been obtained 4 hours ago before we even came on shift. It was foul smelling and cloudy. I sent it off to the lab and it confirmed that the patient had a raging UTI. So I got to tell the ED doctor, the admitting doctor and the cardiologist that there tachycardic patient had a UTI and fever and needed some tylenol and macrobid. The admission was cancelled and the patient went back to the nursing home and I showed a new nurse how the game is truly played that day.

You'll never hear me defend the US healthcare system. It is effing terrible. Canada deserves bragging rights on this one. But there are good nurses and good doctors working in this terrible system.

[DeFault User]

Among several of my close friends in college was a woman who died at 69 from a urinary infection that turned to sepsis and reached her brain. She was under hospital treatment at the time and I couldn’t believe she died from urinary infection.

Of the four close friends in college I am The last one alive. One was murdered, one died from colon cancer and the above case of a urinary infection.

Losing loved ones is the toughest part of getting old.