Attending Surgeon: A Case Study

JD, a 44 y/o female admitted to the surgical floor after abdominal surgery with complaints of pain and restlessness from the epinephrine and Benadryl that she received after experiencing an anaphylactic reaction to the pre-op antibiotic. On Post op day 1, the Attending Surgeon rounded and wrote orders for JD to be discharges later that evening after the last antibiotic. Throughout the day, JD complained of “not feeling well” but denied specific symptoms. By 5 p.m., JD’s temperature was 102.8, and cooling measures were initiated. The RN placed a call to the Attending Surgeon and left a message with her exchange requesting a call back. Both JD and her family voiced their concerns multiple time throughout the evening that the surgeon had not visited. After three more attempts calling the surgeon, an on-call surgeon finally called back ordering blood cultures and additional doses of the antibiotics. It is important to note that both the nurse and the

The RN notified the charge nurse of the repeated complaints from JD and her family related to the lack of physician visits. The RN placed 2 more calls to the Surgeon and left messages with his exchange requesting a call back however, a return call was never received.
By the evening of post-op day 3, the charge nurse contacted the house supervisor and then the ER physician who responded to assess JD. The ER physician ordered a CT scan of the abdomen, blood cultures, and an infectious disease consultation. Ultimately, JD had a 5 cm surgical site abscess drained surgically and a few days later she discharged with orders to continue IV antibiotics for six additional weeks at home.
As for the Attending Surgeon, it was later revealed that the surgeon left the country on vacation immediately after visiting JD on post-op day one. Her answer as to why another surgeon did not cover while she was gone, “I never endorse discharged patient to