What does STAT really mean????
Okay, so I'm a new respiratory therapist and my pager goes off. I look at it and see, "EKG in recovery STAT!" What does this mean? What do I do? I am taught that if something is STAT, that means that immediately or without delay. It means I must drop everything I am doing and rush to the patient. In my mind, it means the patient is in dire straights, and my services are needed immediately to fix the patient. So, I do just that: I stop the breathing treatment I am presently doing, even though my patient is somewhat short of breath. I have to do this because, by my definition of STAT, someone needs me more than this guy. So I rush down to recovery and... ... what I find is a patient who is awake and alert and in no apparent respiratory distress. Okay, he is fine. He is talking. When asked, he says he has no chest pain. And the nurse says, "Yes, the doctor just wanted an EKG before he left the unit, and didn't want to wait." Eh! This is where the respiratory th...