Straight Back
When Im in triage you really have to work to get brought straight back. Yes, I have sympathy, but at the same time I am a realist. For example, homegirl (39) with chronic menstrual cramping who is 1)here every month like clockwork and 2)can't take OTC meds because of some odd reason is not going to go straight back. I've had cramps, yes they suck. The ER at 4am is not the time or place.
The chest pain that one of the sleepy nurses gave a semi-urgent acuity... with a history of MI and stents x11. Yeah, He was going straight back. My mind was made up BEFORE i did he EKG. Before I saw him go into a run of V-Tach. Before I sent the EKG back to the attending to get looked at as I got him in a wheelchair and (gracefully) hauled balls to the treatment area.
The GSW to the back that a medic and I hauled out of a car in the driveway. He was a white-black man (in the words of the medic). He was cold, clammy and didn't have a radial pulse. He went directly to the trauma room. The resident, who is a giant douchebag, gave us a hard time about rushing straight back. The patient had a shit BP and went right to the OR.
Finally I got a "are you fucking kidding me?" from one of my favorite attendings. There are some things that I never thought I would get a chance to type in a triage note. Bit while boyfriend was giving oral sex is one of them. They seriously thought I was kidding....
Nope, this is my job. Gotta love it
posted by jeepgirl at 16:53
2 Comments:
Wow, there are some things that would just be too embarrassing to admit to. I had a patient once (male) with an abscess to his "breast" area. Apparently GF liked to bite during sex. Yuck.
You have to work pretty hard at it to make us bat an eyelash-after all these years, we've pretty much heard it all, but HEY! that was a good one!
By the way, I quit my job in the ER at Marathon. Told the nurse manager who was in grade school when I was a nurse to basically SHOVE IT and that I'd be back working there (or running the place) when she was out the door. (just a matter of WHEN, NOT IF).
They were frightfully short-staffed before, and I left at the beginning of May with 18 shifts on the calendar. Just heard last night someone else quit too.
Interested? They might need some travelers to fill in the gaps and further burden the financial load on the idiot that runs the place.....
I'm fine. Work in Miami during the week, come home for extended weekends. Miami=work. Marathon=playtime. I finally got it right!
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