Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Cool As Shit

The above is a reference to my mom who is also a nurse. She specializes in psych home care and loves it. Ummm... I think I'll stay in the hospital for now, thanks. Whenever I get an interesting case, trauma, medical or just a cool situation I always tell her about it.

I was in green again last night. The thing about green is that you can get some genuinely sick peeps back there. I got a young guy (about my age) as a transfer from another hospital. His family had found him down at his house. This guy had a history of spina bifida and was wheelchair bound. When I got him he was doing very little neurologically. As Dr T said, "this is as close to death as you can get." Dr T did an emergent tap of one of the pt's VP shunts (I got to help) and damn if he didn't wake up! OK, he wasn't completely awake like you or I, but eyes open, following commands and responding to his family. As I waited for either a ready bed, or a call from the OR (the tap is a temporary fix... the shunt has to be revised) his family started telling me about him. This person would be disabled for all intents and purposes and nobody would question that. However, he was a college student, volunteers at the veterans hospital working with head injured soldiers, has a job, owns a house and truck and lives on his own. What a person! I told my cop, there are turds on the street who have full use of all limbs, that choose to be on welfare, popping out kids they can't afford, or selling drugs on the corner. This patient was truly of value to society.

Well, he went downhill again and had to have the other side of his head tapped. Talk about a pucker moment. Fortunately, he went emergently to the OR and last I heard, was doing pretty well.

We had a nurse extern start this morning. They work shadowing a nurse during the summer to get a feel for what "real" nursing is like. I did one in the pedes ER years ago. Well, girlie girl was having a morning. She showed up with her hair in some ratty looking ball on her head, was barely awake, and had the armband from a local bar still on her arm. I'm sorry, but I find that very disrespectful to me, my co-workers, our patients and profession in general. I'm sorry, but that just pisses me off. You know what else pisses me off? The fact that everyone and their mama can claim to be a nurse. The RN's and LPN's of the world don't get enough respect already, without every piece of trash in the street claiming to be a nurse. "I do private duty." Thats what they all say.... showing up in their WalMart scrubs that they probably wear everywhere (including to bed). *I wear the hospital issued scrubs all the time and trust me, there is no way in hell I would wear them to bed. Gross!*

OK, OK, I'm tired, can you tell. Off for tonight... Hump Day Happy Hour at one of the nurses houses. Back tomorrow and then off for 5 days for the Buffett concert in Charlotte!!! Whoo-hooo!!! I can taste the Margaritas now!

Don't shave your ass hair. Just don't do it.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Walking the Green Mile

Memorial Day in Green... can I tell you what a relief it was to see that when I walked in tonight. I did, however walk into Psych-Central. Crazy Crazy Crazy going on back there. Fortunately my peeps stayed quietly crazy in their own rooms! The trauma room was rocking all night long. It was so nice to not have to deal with that for once. Several of the trauma docs pulled me aside and said that they were missing me tonight. The nurse who had the room is known for decompensating and getting bitchy when she is overwhelmed.

So PD brought me a first. Jose and Pablo are brothers and got to fighting. So both were under arrest and had to be seen for their injuries. Well, we only had 1 Doc who spoke Spanish. (I do as well, but not fluent at all!). So Thing 1 and Thing 2, as I called them, had to be seen in the same room. Well, turns out they didn't just speak Spanish, but some dialect that even my Doc from Spain didn't know!

Had another freaky freak come in. Her complaint "My herpes has spread up my belly". GROSS!!! Well, she went to the bathroom a couple of times and got busted smoking. People pull that shit all the time. They still don't get that oxygen and fire are BAD! She was told not to do that anymore. We went to discharge her and walked in to a room full of smoke. The bitch was smoking in her room! We were like, PUT THE CIGARETTE OUT!!! She gave us a hard time!! I had to call the PD to make her 1) put the cigarette out and 2) leave! ARRUUGHGGHH!!!!

I have to say, working here has really changed my perspective on things that I never used to think twice about. Before I started there I was all for donating blood. Then I saw the assholes who actually got blood and really didn't want to do that anymore. I am still an organ donor and feel strongly about that.... but tonight someone really pissed me off. We had a nurse who came in with shortness of breath. He had hypertension induced kidney failure. He was on dialysis for 14 years before he got a kidney transplant. Well, about 2 years ago he changed jobs and his insurance changed. So he stopped taking his anti-rejection meds. So, his kidneys were pooping out and going into failure. His thoughts were "well it happens, I'll get another one." Are you kidding me?!?!?! Thats the biggest load of shit I have ever heard.

Restrained or not, driving off of a highway overpass is always BAD!

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Trauma Bingo

I forgot to mention this on the post before I went to bed. Yes, we played trauma bingo last night. Picture your typical bingo card. B-I-N-G-O. Each letter has a row of numbers under it. We changed from numbers to traumas. My "card" included Dirty Ejected Patient; Shot in the Groin/Buttocks; Piercing of Unmentionable Nature; Thorocotomy; ETOH (thats alcohol) Level Over 4000 (0.4... not unheard of in these parts); DRT Trauma (dead right there... should have stayed dead on scene); Spanish Speaking Only.. I can't remember what else. Trauma Bingo has us all paying a little more attention to the mundane trauma assessment. I was waiting for the drunk ejected mexican... I could have gotten a bingo off of that case alone!


I was checking out another blog earlier that belonged to some doc. He had pictures on his. Now I have some damn cool pictures and stories to go with, but damn if I know how to get them on here. Let me know if anyone out there knows how and I will get you some pictures on here!!!

'Dirty Feet with Crack in the Ass' BINGO!!!!

Friends and family

I have mentioned that holidays suck. My opinion has not changed. Memorial Day weekend is the beginning of summer for most... but for us in the emergency department its the opening of the summer floodgates. Remember there was a nurse who was letting a patient bleed and doing nothing? We'll call her A. A thinks she does well in the trauma room. I hate following her because the room is trashed and shit isn't done. I got the room today with 2 patients in there. The pt in 4 was the brother of one of our paramedics. Sweet guy, wrecked his motorcycle. Actually, he lost control and his best friend (her boyfriend) hit him with a pickup. DAMN! As I was getting peeps out we got an unusual case. A 4 year old climbed into moms SUV which was still running. Kiddo managed to get the truck into drive and went downhill into a tree. So essentially we had a 4 yo unrestrained driver into a tree!!!

Poor kid wasn't doing well. Mom can in with the squad and was starting to freak. A wanted her to stay in the room and I was all about her getting out. I usually am a big advocate for family presence at the bedside, but if mom was going to freak out then she needed to freak in the family room.

Had a a drunk come in later on. Not sure what hurt more... his broken legs or the fact that he totaled a '68 Mustang. He was drunk as hell.. but didn't get charged with DUI because the officer "didn't smell alcohol" on him. I was across the room and could smell it!!! But this guy got off. His alcohol was 2650!!! Thats over 3 times legal! I found out later that this guy was the cousin of a nurse that I sometimes work with. At least he was nice.

Had some other drunk losers. I got moved out of the trauma room at 3am because we were short on nurses. I mean we were really really short. The CC's had to come in and work. Some of them hadn't worked at the bedside in years! But you know what worries me? The administration doesn't even seem to care that we are short. We were even given a hard time this morning when the trauma room wasn't checked off! A even had the balls to say "I don't even feel like checking the airway carts."

Excuse me?!?!? My loved ones live, work and drive in this city. If you aren't doing your job then you put their safety and well-being at risk. Check the carts bitch!!!

Ok, I'm tired.....

If you are drunk, high and wrecked your car then put on your man-pants and own up to it you pussy.

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Going out

One thing I have found out about the girls that I work with, we are all very close. When one of us is having a bad day we take care of each other. My friend K and I had debated calling out for Saturday and going into the beach. I called her when I woke up and she was in tears. K is in the middle of a nasty separation and her baby had to leave with dad for the weekend. K was in no mood to go to the beach. So we decided to go to BW3's for a couple of drinks instead. I think that really helped. We sat on the patio and bitched about work and the people there.

There was a medic that works in the city who was also there last night with her wedding party. She had her rehearsal dinner and thats where they went out to drink afterwards. Yes, I am just starting to plan my own wedding, and let me tell you I have NO intention of getting as carried away as this girl. I think we have decided on some beach somewhere.

So I made it home with no problems last night. I didn't have much to drink at all. Not gonna be a trauma alert on my night off. Plus I had a ride home just in case.

This is memorial day weekend. Not a good thing. I work tonight, Saturday and Monday. I expect BAD things. I think I mentioned on Easter that holidays SUCK!

Have a gross-out suggestion....

when eating out on the road CHEW YOUR FOOD! I sucking half-chewed burgers out of your belly is not my idea of a good time!

Friday, May 26, 2006

Dragging On

I was in medicine last night. You know how some nights (days, classes, flights... etc etc ect) just drag on... like there is no end. Yeah, that was me last night. I started out with a transfer with a MASSIVE head bleed. I swear, it looked like someone had set a bomb off in this poor guys head. Unfortunately, his family was not so enlightened about the situation, and when told he had no chance of recovery they went nuts. I really thought Dr T from neurosurg was going to get hit by the guy's son. I can understand the grief. As Dr T said, you could just feel the tension in that room. So, he went up to NSICU and (hopefully) will have a peaceful passing when the family pulls the plug this morning.

Had a couple pf crazies, doing what they do best (... you know, being crazy). But mostly just the same ol' folks with the same ol' stuff. The doc up in trauma was another big troublemaker. He had a crazy old guy yelling at him and finally asked him "so what planet are you from 'cause you are a freak man." I thought the old guy was gonna have kittens! He said he's going to write a letter and have the docs job....Hmmmm... I think the crazy man would do better than Dr Rock did. I'll have to keep you posted on that one.

Had lunch with one of the girls that I'm good friends with. We always have the best lunch conversations. For example, tonight we were talking about head injuries and how a head bleed is not a bad way to go. I had a prisoner once who had a huge bleed and (due to the spinal cord injury... He had tried to hang himself) he also had a huge erection (called priaprism to us *medical professionals*). In order to keep the tissues down there from dying the urologist gave him a big shot of epinepherine in the penis. My friend K's thought.... "Well, he was gonna die anyway, why didn't they just let him go with a hard-on? That way he would go happy!'

Oh my aching ass.....

If your mom is the VP of the University, don't drink and drive. ... and don't hit 3 parked cars and be a trauma alert. Thats waaaayyy too much to deal with at 6am!

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Princess

Tonight I was supposed to be off. I'm scheduled to work every other day this week. Not sure I get the logic there, but anyway. One of the night shift girls wanted to come in late so she could see the end of American Idol. I don't watch it and could care less about who wins, so I worked the first 4 and she stayed home end rooted for some soul guy. (I don't know their names)

I walked in and the trauma room was TRASHED! When I left this morning it was pristine, quiet... hard to describe. Almost like a church at night with the lights off. When I returned it was like we had a war down there. I heard they had about 14 traumas, including some dumbass who was running from the police, decided he wasn't going back to jail and plugged himself in the head. I'm sure the city folks will find some way to blame the city officers. So when I got there we had 3 traumas rolling in the door and a dead body in the last trauma bed. I don't know who moved him, but the body was gone when the 4th trauma rolled in.

Ok, I must post a little commentary on the Jerry Springer situations that we frequently have in the trauma room. I realize that in this day and time people aren't as faithful and happy with marriage as they once were. Cheating is everywhere. But it needs to not show up in my trauma room. I'm tired of covering for you people! Tonight trauma dude was in the car with his girlfriend and her sister. Sister rolled the car and they all came and saw us in trauma. Well, dude and girlfriend are both married (not to each other!) When their respective spouses started calling and then showing up?!?!? What do you think happened? DRAMA!!! Theres always someone's baby-daddy doing something he ain't supposed to, and (in this case) the baby-momma was too! I can just hear the trauma team now.... JERRY JERRY JERRY!

One more note before I get to bed....

when you run from the po-lice with your (illegal) gun. Don't run with your finger on the trigger dumbass. (This has really happened)

On second thought... Darwin would disagree.... run with your finger on the trigger. If you do shoot yourself in the head by accident then you are out of the gene pool!!
Woo-Hoo!

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Good Nurse, Bad patient

Have been a little slack on this thing. I worked Friday night and was SOOO tired when I got home. I actually went in early to do a favor for a friend. Usually when one person comes in early for someone, the other person returns the favor the next day. At least thats how the night shift usually works. I was doing this for a day shift girl... I should have known. She wondered in at 5 minutes to 7 the next morning.

So I worked a little day shift on Friday. One word.. PAINFUL! I walked into the trauma room and it was sheer chaos. 4 patients, 2 were ICU players, 1 had just gotten there and the fourth didn't speak English (he had fallen into a trash can! EWWWWW). I got 2 of them moved out and went to help the nurse with the actively crumping patient. This old guy was in an accident, had significant facial swelling and had been tubed. Since then he had received NO sedation and she was wondering why he was hypertensive and tachycardic?!?!?! DUH... he's awake genius! So when they gave his sedation and pain meds, they gave too much and sent his pressure through the toilet and couldn't get it back up... and then he had an MI! (heart attack... prob due to low bp) What a freaking mess. I was so happy when 7pm got there and the dumbasses left.

Oh, I had a patient try to hit me that night, too. 27 year old gsw to the back. Once we got X-Rays we found out that the bullet was tiny and didn't do any damage. He was being a big ole pussy (sorry, thats the word the doc used) and wouldn't even sit up in the bed. I was on one side, the med student on the other and we went to sit him up. Let me also say that I am 5 feet tall on a good day and definitely not a big girl. When we went to pull him he yelled that I was pulling too hard (I was giving it everything... he was a big dude) the he tried to punch me! Fortunately, Dr B was in the room and was up in the guys face in about 2 seconds. Dr B's wife is a nurse so he doesn't tolerate shit from these patients. I was ready to hit the guy back if it went that way. (I'm small, but when I'm pissed I pack a mean punch.) Glad I stopped myself. Then I would have been no better that that piece of shit. My cop wanted me to press charges, I'm still thinking about it.

So last night we had the ER Spring Fling at one of the nurse's houses in the country. It was fun to get away with everyone and just relax.

ok, I'm off and I'm STARVING. I wonder if Papa John's is open yet. Hmmmm....

DON'T HIT THE NURSE! I WILL FUCK YOUR DAY UP!

Friday, May 19, 2006

CC

We have a position in the ER called Clinical Coordinator. That person is pretty much in charge of the day to day activities of the ER. There is always one working, they respond to trauma team alerts/codes and they are the person that you call when you call out. Some are better and more understanding than others. My grandmother went into the hospital on Monday. She has a-fib and was having rate control issues. Well, we found out yesterday that she was going to have surgery this morning. I called at noon yesterday to tell the CC that I was going to leave at 5am so I could see her before she went in. I was told on the phone that it wouldn't be a problem. When I got in last night the CC was a different person. I told him what was going on and the response I got was pretty shitty. He said "we'll have to see." Excuse me? No, I don't think you understand. I AM LEAVING at 5am. If something happens to her and you didn't let me leave to go see her then we will have an issue!

So... I left at 5 to go see Nanny. She had her pacer put in and she's doing fine.

So I get to go in at 530 this evening. A friend needed a favor. God I hope she comes back in at 530 Sat morning....but I don't know that she is going to. Had the trauma room last night... no good stories to tell. We had an acute MI come in at 4am. Those are pretty cool if you like cardiac stuff.

Going back to bed now.

Best comment of the night... "I'm not sure if I'm sore from the accident or from my kickboxing class." This was a 60 some year old lady

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Getting Through

So yesterday was one of my few days off and I spent the evening doing the ER community project. We go to schools and other places where we can speak to groups of young people. Last night we did some injury prevention, evaluation of high risk behavior and some forensics as well. All in all we had a very good turnout. This was not one of our school-based programs, so most of the kids were there because their parents made them. Not exactly the best crowd. The parents were in another room talking with a psychologist about why kids do this and that.

So I was doing some trauma stuff with them and you know there is always one kid that has to be a pain in the ass. We had ages 12-18 in the audience and it was the 18 year old who was acting up. Apparently, he is in private school and is just way "too cool" for all of this. Yes, he was acting like an asshole. I think the consensus was that he WILL be a trauma alert at some point, its just a matter of time. I tried to throw some DUI stats in his general direction, but he's gonna be the one who hits an innocent person (or family) and walks away with a scratch and his lawyer's number. I think some of the kids got something out of the program... maybe we just needed more gory pictures. Kids love gory pictures.


Before I get going there was an email sent out to the ER staff from the executive secretary. One of my favorite residents from a few years ago left us and went into the military. CNN came across him in a hospital in Iraq. There is a story, and some great video to go with it. If you go to WWW.CNN.COM and search Capt Steinbruner you will get the site. I miss this guy, He is a great doc and I know he is doing good stuff over there.

Helmets save lives. Motorcycles, bikes whatever. Wear your damn helmet.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

C-R-A-Z-Y Part II

Hour and hours later I am awake again. I don't think I realize how tired I get some nights until I just go down, BAM, like a narcoleptic space cadet in scrubs. Its hard to explain that feeling to my cop. Yes, we work pretty much the same hours, but he sits in the car for a lot of the night. I know he has to be extremely aware of his surroundings (god I hope so), but they are able to take care of each other. There are nights where he gets to "Celebrate Hanukkah", or "go fishing"...code words for taking a nap. We don't usually get that option. Every now and then when we are having a SLOOOOWWW night I can crash in the 4th trauma bay for a little bit. I have to keep one ear open for either 1) Triage calling a trauma alert or 2)The rest of the staff (led by Dr B) doing an ambush on me.

Most of the other folks I had last night were pretty nice and easy. I honestly don't know what to do with people like that sometimes. I am so used to the drunks, the punks and the assholes that a nice person can really throw me for a loop. These are the peeps that I try to pull out all the stops for, but they usually don't even ask. See, they are too nice for that. The assholes want the concierge and butler at the bedside to take care of their every whim. Sorry, but this is not 'Hospital Cribs' guys. So sit down, eat your dry turkey sandwich and warm ginger ale and be quiet!

So I know my spare time has been an interesting topic. Not sure why so much of it is work related. Anyway, am off tonight... have a community project tonight. Kids and parents coming. The parents get to listen to a psychologist talk about why teenagers are the way they are. I am helping present the consequences of risky behavior to teenagers. We do trauma scenarios, role playing and lots of gory pictures to keep their attention. I really enjoy talking to the kids. I'm younger than most of the nurses, so I think the kids can relate to me. My cop is coming with me, Obviously, his role will be that of... a cop. I think he will "arrest" drunk drivers and maybe make notification to the families of our kids on the role play activity. He will do great.

So its 5am... I'm going into the city to visit my cop. Its one of our 'things.'

When they say "Construction area, Hard Hats Required" its probably a good idea to wear one.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

C-R-A-Z-Y

Why is it that all the crazies show up at the same time? I was in medical again and it was crazy person central. Fortunately, I didn't have the psych zone. There were a couple of *special* folks acting up. There was a guy that ate the tape from his IV because he was angry we TDO'd him. This same guy took an empty urinal at a patient who was sitting in the hall. He scared the hell outta her!! (I wonder if it was the deluxe one?)

I had a drunk/high guy wait 8 hours in the waiting room to be seen for erectile dysfunction. UMMMMM.... that was a fun conversation to have. When asked if he had high risk sex with other people, he replied... 'I'd rather have women, but you know....', lovely. So he didn't get viagra....

I'm sure I have more snappy things to say about last night, but damn I'm tired right now. Maybe I'll pop back on later and make a little more sense. Plus these hiccups are a bitch!

Just don't piss me off. Thats all I ask

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Just another day...

Hmmm... gotta love another Friday night in the ER. Not in trauma, but turns out that was a good thing. Started the evening with a few characters. Magda, from 'There's Something About Mary' stopped by with a torn bicep. Not kidding... she had the hair, gold stuff smeared all over her face and these big bug-eye glasses with purple lenses. FREAKY! Next to her was a sad case.. 38 year old, told her family she was going to kill herself, walked into the other room and BAM she did it. She was pretty much brain dead when I got her... and (gross out moment here) had grey matter.. (which really looks pink from the blood) oozing out of the hole. I found out later that her family decided to donate her organs, so there is something good that comes out of this after all.

I poked my head into the trauma room later on to see if they needed a hand. When we hear screaming the nurses always investigate. That unrestrained driver from the MVA wasn't too happy, but while I was in there the trauma doc started to feel sick. I have not mentioned this girl here before. We will call her Doc W/Balls. To be a female in a surgical residency not only takes brains, but you have to be tough as nails too. This girl has all of that. She's tough, works hard but genuinely cares for her patients. They are more than just another case to her. She is also a friend.

So Doc W/Balls scared the crap outta me tonight. We got her to another bed in the trauma room where she promptly fainted. I couldn't get her to talk, even when I did a sternal rub. After about 2 minutes of sheer terror, (and an IV, blood sugar and monitor... not sure how I moved that fast) she started to make some sense. We checked her out and I think she was just taking care of everyone else and not herself. She went home with her husband (a surgery fellow and a great guy) and was told not to come back until Monday. 2 days off for these guys is like a freaking vacation. I know she'll be fine.

Nothing else major of note last night. Worked with 'The Visiting Dr", one of our attendings who puts in minimum clinical hours because he does a LOT of research. He is always fun and good for a few laughs.

Don't tell the nurse/doc/cop/lawyer/judge that you only had 2 beers. None of us believe you anyway.

Friday, May 12, 2006

Deluxe Urinals

Back again to the wonders of this department. The trauma room has been totally silent all night long (note I didn't say quiet, we don't use that word). Have had another run of crazy peeps. I've been called a fucking bitch a couple of times. I don't argue.... I can be one from time to time.

The doc tonight we call Dr Chia-Face. He answers to it! He was one of our residents that graduated and stayed with the hospital. Its like having a sarcastic big brother around. When you ask for orders for patients 99% of the time he answers "I don't care." I told him that he should just drop medicine and be a professional smartass. He doesn't think it pays as well. Dr Tox is down the hall in medical. Have managed to avoid him for most of the night. Dr Rock is GONE. Where?? To quote Chia-face "I don't care."

So am sitting in the pitch dark trauma room listening to the environmental services staff joke and laugh and waiting for day shift to get here. Its not a bad deal on nights like this.

I saw a box labeled 'DELUXE URINALS' in the supply room. If the crappy ones we have are deluxe, than what do the really crappy ones look like?? Hmmmm.... food for thought.

Have my interview in the Neuro ICU this morning. Will see how that goes.

Roaches and paraplegics with pus coming out of their ass never die!

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Street Medics

Tonight was another night off. Since my cop had to work, I decided to do something productive and not babysit the dog and the sofa. I'm friends with many of the city medics and decided to hop on a truck and put my (slightly rusty) EMS skills to use. No big traumas to speak of... but work called on the way in. Wanted me to give them ANYTHING, 12hrs, 8, 4, whatever I could. Told them where to stick it! I wish they would stop calling on my nights off.

We started slow. Transferred a patient from community hospital to my beautiful university medical center. Had a lady that got hit in the head with a beer bottle (I convinced her not to go to the ER), a 21 year old psych patient and a SA. I was able to spend some time with my cop since we were posted in his beat for a while. We also responded on the SA with him. I liked working together. I think we make a pretty good team professionally as well.

The SA was a little fucked up. I don't think the patient was telling us the truth. My take was that it was probably a rock for a ride gone bad. Rock for a ride is a trade off of a crack rock for "borrowing" the persons car. Great way of thinking huh?

You know what makes me crazy?? The nurses that work at other hospitals really treat these medics like shit. I was shocked at the attitudes that got thrown in our general direction. I was in secret squirrel mode.... didn't want the nurses to know I was the trauma nurse from downtown. I was waiting for them to really get snotty towards my crew... and then was gonna get 'em. I know, I'm not as sweet as I used to be!!!

Back to work tonight... fun fun fun.

wear your seatbelt when riding with medics. They drive CRAZY!

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Otis Redding

Sunday night I was in medical... Remember the Green Mile? It would appear that most of the local psych community was trying to get themselves admitted. I had a zone of 4 rooms, and 3 of them were psych holds. Most of the time these patients will eat turkey sandwiches and sleep. For the most part they don't need much. One of the other nurses had an old black guy... (I think he was mid-60's) that didn't get that memo. He stood in the doorway of his room and sang the whole time! He was pretty good though! He did gospel, Ray Charles, the Temptations (with choreography!) and other stuff I don't even know. I was calling report and could hear him singing 'Georgia' in the background. How great is that? Of course when he took a break he would wack off and play with his nipples.... and some of the dancing was naked. Maybe that was a part of the show!

Got off work yesterday and went to State Police Aviation Unit with the fiancee. I have a friend who is a paramedic with the flight program and he let us hang out and play inside the helicopters. (BK 117 and Bell 407) Obviously I was a HAPPY girl. I love the smell of Jet-A fuel. I could have stayed there all day. Yes, flying is on my agenda as soon as I get enough experience to do that.

There was another police shooting yesterday. This one was in Fairfax. My cop and I were up there a few weeks ago so he could go to a gang conference. He was going to do a ride-along, but wasn't able to work the details out... and I was having a bad feeling about the whole thing. Well, last night a teenager with outstanding child molestation warrants went to the precinct that my cop was going to ride with and opened fire. A detective was killed and two other officers were shot as well. Chills me to the bone. I've found it takes some nerve to be in a relationship with an officer. Maybe thats where all of those gray hairs have come from. (I'm toooo young for them!!)


Drugs are bad.... don't do drugs M'Kay?

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Gone Racin'

Theres nothing like a Saturday night race night in the South. People get crazy. The traffic is insane, you can hear the cars for miles around, and the buzz of 100,000+ people in our backyard can be felt on the air. I myself am not a big race girl. I know who's who and can follow it, but would rather be at a Buffett show than packed next to redneck #1 and redneck #2, neither of whom have showered recently.

So imagine my happiness to walk into the ER and see my name as high priestess of the trauma room on race night. The room was stocked and ready to roll. I had a great docs (Dr Miami... who married a trauma attending, Dr Calm, a kick ass intern and Dr Yoda... the short, quiet attending who can kick some ass when there is ass to be kicked). What a great group!

\Not as many race casualties for the night. Had 2 race related traumas. (No drivers.. that was a few years back). The only one of note was the guy that was sooooo drunk that he fell off the tram going to the parking lot after the race. He was so trashed that I think he slept through most of his workup. I'll bet he wakes up this morning with a huge hangover wondering where the hell he is!

Otherwise, had a bunch of accidents.. only 1 GSW. Apparently there was a shooting earlier today and 2 were left on scene. I think we are over 30 homicides now. Oh, and how's this shit... I had the stupid man that kept stabbing himself a while back. What a moron. Well... he decided to try and rob a bank, took a hostage, stole a car and then was waving a FAKE gun in front of the police. Needless to say the police didn't know the gun was fake and DAMN.. another case of lead poisoning. Had to call my friend the flight medic and tell him about that.

Had breakfast with my cop and about 4 others. While we were eating a little girl came up to thank them for protecting her and her family. Awwww.....

Note to self... drunks bounce.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Why I Hate Nursing Homes

Ok, I should have entitled this post "Why I Hate Nursing Homes, with a Side of Dr B's Top 10" but it wouldn't quite fit.

Was in medical last night. We sometimes call medical Green. The jokes about Green and long and distinguished. Its fairly common to hear it referred to as 'Walking the Green Mile'. The smells from Green are NOTORIOUS. I think its a combo of feet, funk, poo, urine and a side of vomit. GROSS! You've gotta love it!

We got a patient last night from a nursing home. She is 74 years old, a diabetic and recently put in a nursing home. Apparently, she was getting her PO diabetic meds, and all of her insulin WITHOUT having her sugar checked. Hey guess what?? She was found unconscious with a sugar of 29! She was also uncovered and had a temp of 92.0 F. That is criminal!!!The EMS peeps gave D50 and warmed her up. The nursing home didn't even know her last name. When she woke and was more with it she said that "Nobody should treat older folks this way. They all have this coming."

These homes claim to take excellent care of our loved ones. But they are left in urine and feces so long we have trouble cleaning it off. They are allowed to waste away with hardly a look... much less a turn every 2 hours or a bath everyday. These places are EXPENSIVE! The shitholes will cost you an arm and a leg and they are the nice ones! Those poor people deserve so much better.

OK, so to counter my bummed out mood may I present....

THE TOP 10 REASONS I WORK AT (UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER) EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT:

10. The respectful and courteous patients that are always thankful for the high quality of care they received.

9. Teamwork!

8. Betting on ETOH levels.

7. Being able to stroll into the Trauma room and say to the patient "That looks like it hurts."

6. Plenty of state of the art equipment available.

5. Hospital administration views diversion as a sign of weakness.

4. The ICU intern telling the ED attending "I think that patient will do just fine on the floor."

3. Being able to drop the F-Bomb at will.

2. Sexual harassment as a job requirement.

1 The staff is crazier than the patients and almost as dangerous!

By Dr B.


Don't stick stuff in your ear. No pens, pencils, small furry animals, lottery tickets or after dinner snacks. Just don't do it!

Thursday, May 04, 2006

The Good Docs

I was off last night. Thank GOD! I got home and seriously slept for 15 hours. The job really sucks it out of me some nights. I'm glad I was off though. We had a police officer get killed last night. His partner was flown to the ER, and the suspect was dead. Hard to know what to think about this. Part of me is happy that the guy is dead, but as another officers wife said.... It would be nice to just rewind the whole incident. Not sure if this was someone I knew from the ER, am still waiting for the picture to be released. I didn't recognize the name though.

So I realize that I talk a lot about Dr Rock and Dr Tox... whom I don't think highly of. There are so many docs that I work with that are SO great. Dr T, one of the neurosurgeons... is one of the most caring and empathetic people I have met. (I have found this is true about almost all neurosurgeons). Dr B is one of the biggest nursing advocates I have ever met. He is a bit of a trouble maker though. I think thats why we get along so well. One night he tied a noose around his neck on trauma bed 1 and pretended to hang himself. Then he told me to get the interns and tell them there was a code in the trauma room!! I still have pictures of that somewhere! Dr Dave and I would play on the roof as we waited for the helicopter to come in.

All of these folks are a lot of fun to work with, but I have a lot of faith in them as practitioners as well. They give me confidence about the care we provide (unlike some others) Am I bitter sometimes, of course. There are nights where I want to go flip burgers. But there are also nights where I feel like a rock star. Those nights usually make all the bad ones all worth it. I could be doing a million other things right now, but there is a reason why I'm here. Plus I have great stories. Back to work tonight. We will see what comes my way!


Enemas don't come in flavors for a reason. Don't drink 'em!

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Dr Rock

Ok, had another run-in with Dr Rock tonight. Fortunately, he only has about 5 more days on trauma... at least this year. There is a good chance that he will get held back a year and we might have to deal with him all over again. Last night he really had a bad attitude. He cannot manage a trauma, he must micro-manage... which just serves to piss me off. If he gets to try to do my job do I get to do his??? I can crack a chest... I know how. I'm allowed to cric I just have to chart in purple crayon.

I actually told Dr Rock tonight that if he had a problem with me he could find himself a new trauma nurse. I don't think he liked that. Oh well... again its not my job to make him happy.

One of my favorite nurses had his last shift tonight. He's going to finish his career at a nursing home as the nursing supervisor. There are quite a few people leaving. I think the consensus is that we just don't feel safe as practitioners anymore. There are too many patients, not enough nurses and NO support from the management. I shouldn't have to beg for help.. Especially if I have a tubed patient that needs some attention. I am thinking of leaving as well. I have called/emailed nurse managers in some of the ICU's so hopefully I will be outta here soon. Will probably stay in the ER part time just to keep up my skills. I feel like the ship is sinking and I don't want to be stuck on the freaking Titanic!!

Don't moon the triage nurse. We'll throw you out!!! (this really happened to me tonight!)