To me, the term STAT should only be used if a patient is in dire straights and my services are needed RIGHT NOW to help this patient. For instance, the patient is in severe respiratory distress and requires a NOW treatment. Or, the patient is in cardiopulmonary arrest and I am needed to assist the doctor with an intubation. Or the patient is having chest pain and needs an EKG.
When I started as an RT I would jump every time I heard "STAT." I would immediately stop whatever I was doing and rush to where I was needed. And then I would walk into a patient's room and find that the patient is perfectly fine and in no need of an immediate
To me, that is how the term STAT should be used.
Then, over the course of the next year or so, reality struck. I'd be in the middle of doing a breathing treatment and get called STAT to do an EKG. And I'd stop right in the middle of it and walk all the way to the other side of the hospital, And I'd walk into the patient's room and find that he was just fine.
"Are you having chest pain?"
"Nope. I feel fine," the patient would say.
And you'd ask the nurse, "Why was this ordered STAT?"
"Oh," the nurse would say. "It was because we needed a preop EKG and one hadn't been done yet."
Ugh! And so you had to order it stat. You made me run all the way over here for a preop EKG.
Worse is when you rush to do something and the doctor says he wants it so he can look at it before he goes on vacation. Like, that is abuse of the system.
Today, things have changed.
Today, I just got called to do a STAT EKG. And I finished eating my breakfast. Then I went to the bathroom. Then I got to the patient's room to do the EKG and he was sleeping sound. I have no idea why the procedure was ordered. And I definitely don't see why it was stat. ASAP may have been fine. But STAT?
What are your thoughts on the term STAT? Do you feel it is abused? Please let us know in the comments below.
sdfs
5 comments:
I am not a medical professional. But I have been a cardiac patient and also have asthma. I have been in the hospital with my people , both cardiac patients. To know that STAT is so abused is unnerving. And that response has become ho hum. I see your side of things but Wow. I'm thinking the medical system needs a major overhaul.
Hi.Ozark Yankee. Thank you for your comment. I am glad to see that you are checking out my blog post. And you are right, that there is definitely a "major overhaul" that is needed. And, now that you bring this up. I am wondering if it has already been done. At my place of employment, there is a button in every room that nurses can push if a patient is truly in need of immediate services of a respiratory therapist. What happens is we hear a unique alarm on our iPhones that we carry. And this is followed by a message of where we are needed. Whether this is a false alarm or not, we have learned to immediately respond to these alarms. And, yes, lives are saved this way. So, this system has essentially replaced the STAT system for emergent situations in the hospital setting. What do you think? John.
HeyJohn! The button system sounds like a good idea. So is basically like a Rapid Response type thing?
Hi Ozark Yankee. I was in the hospital in Middle Michigan back in September 2021 and I never once heard the word STAT. I did hear the doctor's and/or the nurse's phone sound an alarm, like what John was talking about. I heard it go off and they were needed in my room while they were standing right there, but they wanted a breathing treatment done like yesterday. So I think the phones are a great idea also.
Cheryl
Yes. If you are having trouble breathing in your room a button can be pushed to notify me that I am needed in the room. The only time the term stat is used is when a doctor puts in an order. He might put it in stat. The system is still not perfect, although much better.
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