Marie Hauschildt, RN, a hospitalist coordinator at Intermountain Medical Center, couldn’t shake off a bad feeling after speaking to a patient on the phone. The patient had left a voicemail looking for information about COVID-19 study drugs. When Marie called him back, he was struggling to breathe and clearly needed help.
Marie Hauschildt, RN
“He told me he didn’t want to trouble anyone by going to the emergency department on a holiday,” she says. “It was Thanksgiving Day and he told me he didn’t want to be a bother, but it was obvious he was not OK. When I asked about symptoms, he mentioned difficulty breathing and a fever. He’d been to the ED five days earlier, but he wasn’t sick enough to be admitted at that time.”
Marie stayed on the phone with the patient and became very concerned. “I kept encouraging him to go to the ED. It was obvious he needed to see a doctor right away.”
Marie says the patient refused, saying he “didn’t want to be any trouble.” She says, “I think he felt bad because it was Thanksgiving, but I encouraged him and reinforced that that’s what we’re here for, even on holidays.”
Marie asked if anyone could drive him to the hospital, and the patient told her he was alone and didn’t have help. “I then asked him to call 911,” she says. “I just really felt he needed to be seen. He told me he’d ‘think about it.’”
They ended the call after about 15 minutes, but the patient still refused to come in.
“The conversation weighed heavy on my heart,” says Marie. “I was not OK with how it ended.”
Marie tried to call him back, but this time there was no answer.
“I decided to ask the police to do a welfare check, but he had an out of state address in our system,” she says. “Then I checked with registration to see if they had any identification, but they didn’t have anything either.”
Marie says she was fortunate to work with a caregiver in registration who was incredibly helpful and a team player. “We were troubleshooting how to help him together. She he offered to speak with the police officer that’s stationed in the ED to see if there was any way they could get an updated address. Unfortunately, it was also out of state.”
With few options left, Marie decided to text the patient as a last resort. “I could not get him out of my mind,” she says. “I had a bad feeling and I couldn’t let go of it.”
“He wasn’t one of our patients, but rather than just delete the voicemail, Marie called him back to check on him,”
About 30 minutes later, the patient texted Marie to let her know he was in the ED. “He was admitted to hospital for treatment,” she says. “He was very sick with COVID. He was here a few days before going home.”
Sarah Holt, RN, hospitalist coordinator lead, says one of the extraordinary things about this story is that the patient had never been seen by the hospitalist service and it’s uncertain how he found the hospitalist phone number.
“He wasn’t one of our patients, but rather than just delete the voicemail, Marie called him back to check on him,” Sarah says. “Marie clearly went above and beyond for this man, following through and not stopping until he got the care he needed. I’m proud and honored to work with such an outstanding individual.”