Oxygen Saturation In Patients Observation

Scalpel. Doctor, patient’s O2 sat. is 70 percent and dropping fast! Place an oxygen mask on her. Kelly. I need a size [insert] chest tube. Doctor, her oxygen saturation is coming back up slowly. Good, keep watching it. Tube is in; get X-ray in here to check for placement. The patient’s oxygen saturation is now in the high 90s. Alright, lower her oxygen level and see how she does. All vitals look good, patient is doing well at two liters of oxygen, and placement is good. I am going to go and talk to the family; I will be back to check in on her in just a few minutes to make sure she is doing fine before sending her to the floor.
In less than a minute a routine thoracostomy turned into an emergency. The patient, a woman in her 50s, had been having issues with …show more content…
After placing a chest tube, Dr. Thompson decided that the patient needed a larger tube due to the amount of air that was compressing her lungs. It was during the placement of the second chest tube that the patient began to desaturate with her oxygen saturation dropping to the high forties before the nurse anesthetist could recover the patient.
This experience, along with many others during my time at Richardson Medical Center, has taught me many things that I feel are very important in the medical field. To begin with, the doctor is looked up to as the leader of the team; as such, his or her attitude and their ability to remain composed can greatly influence those around them. In the case I described above, Dr. Thompson remained calm throughout the entire procedure along with the entire surgical crew with everyone doing their jobs and focusing on the wellbeing of the patient. Secondly, you must be ready for any possibility no matter how remote it may seem; in the case mentioned, other sized chest tubes were readily available, saving