Rude Awakening

I was on-duty in the hospital 2 nights ago and I was awakened by a loud knock on our call room’s door. It was around 2 o’clock in the morning.

I went to bed just after midnight after I received a call from the Transfer Center and I accepted 2 patients to be admitted to our ICU. One patient was coming from a hospital about 30 minutes away, while the other was more than 2 hours away by ground ambulance. Thus I decided to steal some sleep before my admissions arrived.

Four nights ago, when I was not on-call and was at home, the operator called my phone around 1 AM, asking me where our hospital call room was located, as the doctor who was on-duty that night was not responding to his pages. He probably slept so soundly, so they would like to send hospital’s security personnel to knock on his room to wake him up.

And that brings me to that knock on the door that early morning. Did I also sleep so deeply like my partner did a few nights ago? Was I not hearing my pages? Was the hospital’s security personnel knocking on my door?

I got up quickly and tried to shake off my sleepiness. As I opened the door I was surprised to see not a security personnel but a man who was obviously confused and disoriented. He barged right into my room saying he needs to use the bathroom. I firmly told him that he was in the wrong room but he would not listen and continued to trespass my room.

Even though he said he needed to use the bathroom, I thought it was already too late as he had the distinct smell of feces. As I further looked at him, I noticed that his pants was soiled and it was even running down his legs. What a rude awakening!

Even how hard I tried to reason to him, it was of no use as he was clearly out of his mind. At least he was not violent. I guess he came from the Emergency Room or from its waiting room, and how he got into my room, I clearly have no clue.

To get to my call room from the Emergency Room is like going through a maze of hallways, deep into the bowels of the hospital, and even passing through 3 or 4 double doors. But he did it. He found my room.

I called hospital’s security and the moment I told them that there was a confused man in my room, they immediately told me that they were looking for him for a while now. I could have swear it was a full moon, but it was not. Perhaps it was the summer heat that was causing people to go crazy.

Not too long after that, four burly security officers with their gears and all, came to my rescue. A nurse supervisor from the Emergency Department also arrived later. Someone also brought in a wheelchair.

The disoriented patient at this time had sat down at a ledge by the window, smearing whatever he got contact with. I was just glad he did not climb up my bed nor sat in the couch, for that will be a nightmare to clean. We will probably have to throw the bed and the couch away.

The security men did not use force to get the man out of my room, as they still tried to calmly persuade him to get into the wheelchair. Or maybe they just don’t want to touch him and get their hands and uniforms dirty with you-know-what. One of the security men would not even go inside the room as he discernibly cannot stand the smell. He just stood outside the door like a bouncer of a night club.

After several minutes of coaxing, which seems like forever, they were able to get the man into the wheelchair. They finally wheeled him out and brought him back to the Emergency Room.

Once the crazed man was out, the security man who would not go inside my room, called the cleaning crew. Two ladies from housekeeping arrived and it took them some time to clean and sanitize the room. Besides wiping the floor and walls, I also requested them to change the bed sheets as I don’t dare crawl back in the bed unless I know it is clean.

I kept the window open until morning to let the bad air out and whatever bad luck or bad spirits that would like to linger inside. Needless to say, I was not able to sleep the rest of the night as my 2 admissions arrived plus another one from yet another hospital, plus I just cannot shake the thought of all the craziness that transpired in that godforsaken night.

When morning came, I received a text from the hospitalist asking me if the strange story circulating in the hospital was true. When I called her back and relayed my misadventure, she cannot stop laughing. She told me that she ended admitting the patient who trespassed my room. There was a trace of alcohol in his blood and his serum sodium was low, both of which can contribute to his altered mentation.

Or maybe he was just really determined to pooped in my room. Maybe this is a sign that I should retire soon.