Four Good Samaritan physicians receive kudos

Excellent care is a team sport. Our patients benefit every day from the exceptional skill of multiple people working seamlessly together, along with the dedicated support of caring staff from departments throughout the hospital. And sometimes, in other hospitals.

The below retelling of recent patient case gives kudos to four of our physicians — two of whom cared for this patient at our sister hospital, Lutheran — and was submitted by a member of our medical staff who practices at both. He was deeply impressed by the advanced care provided by each team and the flawless transfer between hospitals to ensure this patient received the surgery he needed.

Dr. Kudos given by a colleague via the submission form

“A patient presented to the GSH ED with 3rd-degree heart block causing syncope and an open tib-fib fracture. While in the ED, he suffered cardiac arrest. Dr. Matthew Nimmo obtained ROSC and stabilized the bradyarrhythmia. Dr. Shaheer Zulfiqar performed emergent transvenous pacer placement and identified severe 3-vessel CAD. Only an hour after the call was first placed to Dr. Zulfiqar, he and the Good Sam Cath Lab team had both responded to the after-hours activation, already completed the pacer placement and angiography, and were on the phone with First Call requesting transfer for CV surgery while simultaneously placing an aortic balloon pump.

“The accepting team at Lutheran included Drs. Leah Wydro, Ramesh Devanesan, Gregory Pinson, Allan Brants and Oscar Noel. The patient was transferred from Good Sam’s Cath Lab to the Lutheran ICU, and was then in the OR at Lutheran with Dr. Brants and anesthesiologist Dr. Natalie Hamilton for an emergent CABG & aortic valve replacement first thing that morning. He had his 11-hour cardiac case followed directly by external fixation of his open fracture by Dr. Noel. 

“There were obviously multitudes of others involved in this case as well, and everyone who had a hand in his care should take pride in this patient discharging from the hospital to rehab.

“On my review, the most striking elements were the consistently short time stamps between a clinical event, First Call making a call, a physician providing an affirmative response, and then those physicians coordinating care across multiple specialties and multiple care locations in a profoundly critically ill patient. For orthopedic surgery to have completed washout and external fixation of the initial open fracture only 26 hours after first presentation, all while undergoing an intervening cardiac arrest with resuscitation, cardiac catheterization with supportive device placement, inter-facility transfer while placed on balloon pump support, and multi-vessel cardiac bypass surgery with concurrent valve replacement seems like truly remarkable care.”

This extraordinary case was shared with Pulse via the Dr. Kudos Submission Form. If you would like to recognize or thank a colleague in this space, please click the button above.

Thank you to the physicians mentioned here for outstanding care and teamwork, and to all members of our medical staff who provide the highest-quality care every day for every patient.