Because Your Health Is My Job

Recently, a patient visited Mount Carmel St. Ann's for a routine procedure. When the nurse, Sue B., RN., put the patient on the bedside monitor, she noticed something irregular about the rhythm of the patient's heartbeat. Acting quickly, Sue alerted fellow nurse, Lauren T., NP, who promptly ordered an EKG for the patient. The EKG proved Sue's concerns about the patient's heartbeat correct – it was a trigeminal rhythm.

The patient had been asymptomatic except for some recent shortness of breath. Sue's catching of this irregular, potentially fatal, heartbeat when she did allowed the patient to receive the best care possible when time was vital. The patient underwent an open-heart procedure that day to help prevent the potential cardiac arrest this rhythm would have caused.

Thank you, Sue and Lauren, for you swift action and attention to detail that helped save this patient's life.