HLSC220 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Tuberculosis, Triage
Document Summary
Andrew was 17 years old when he presented to the emergency department of a public hospital with a fever, productive cough, and shortness of breath. The triage nurse, bill, assessed andrew on arrival and assumed that he most likely had bronchitis; bill had seen an increase in patients presenting with bronchitis that week, some of whom went to the same school as andrew. Bill asked andrew to take a seat in the waiting room while staff attended to patients whose conditions were deemed more urgent. Andrew was left waiting for 6 hours until he eventually collapsed. Further investigations were then conducted by the emergency registrar which indicated a high probability that andrew had pulmonary tuberculosis, most likely contracted on a recent trip overseas. He was transferred to an isolation room in the high dependency unit and his family were notified. A(cid:374)d(cid:396)e(cid:449)(cid:859)s condition worsened, and his parents were informed that he was most unlikely to survive.
