Beth Israel Deaconess trauma nurses treated bombing suspect like any other patient

The 29-year-old trauma nurse was on-call at home, unwinding in front of a “Friends’’ television marathon on a Friday night. She had been ministering to patients horribly injured in the Boston Marathon bombings and craved a distraction. But she couldn’t resist flipping to the news, and as she did, police surrounded Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, cowering and bloody inside a parked pleasure boat. Her smartphone rang. A nursing supervisor told the young woman to hurry into work. She didn’t know it yet, but within several hours, she would be one of Tsarnaev’s bedside nurses, soothing the accused terrorist’s pain and healing his wounds — just as she had done for his victims. For nine Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center trauma nurses, an extraordinarily draining six days were just beginning.

The professionalism of these nurses were astounding.  I commend some of the nurses for doing their best to stay as neutral as possible to care for this individual.  It’s definitely hard to care for someone who has harmed so many others.  I can only imagine the weight of the ethical dilemma on the nurses’ shoulders at that time.     

What do you think you would do if you were that nurse?

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IdleDancer: Things that a Nurse probably "shouldn't" say aloud to a patient....

idledancer:

1. OMG! that’s the most blood I’ve ever seen!

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Don't Stress, Assess!

vickytorious:

“…walking in to do your first few assessments can be awkward, even scary, because on top of asking all of these things to yourself, many times you’re also trying to build rapport with your patient and keep them comfortable - you’re trying to hold a real conversation while having an internal conversation with yourself.”

For new and future nursing students, on getting comfortable and confident in your assessment skills.

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