Please excuse me for being vague with the details. I'm a pgy2 resident doing ward call evenings, nights and weekends, as such I am part of the medical emergency response team.
A septic elderly patient with poor baseline level of health was admitted over the weekend and seen by the post take medical team including by the consultant and an intern. An abnormal blood result that would have been available at that time and should have been treated was not treated and the patients usual medications that exacerbate this problem were continued instead of ceased or withheld.
When I saw this patient with the medical emergency team this potentially treatable problem had progressed to shock with multiple organ dysfunction. Given this patients very poor baseline health despite treatment at this stage we expected them to die within 24 hrs.
In a way this was not an unexpected outcome for this patient admitted with sepsis and their level of comorbidities, so I am not sure if the team who saw her over the weekend has gotten any feedback on what happened. I don't think anyone will have told the intern, who I work with regularly.
So given that I do not hold him fully responsible as an intern, how do I tell him what happened in a supportive way that he can learn from?
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