The ER
The ER
Within half an hour of stepping into the ER for the first time I found myself literally racing down the halls wondering what the hell I just got myself into. Slightly intimidating? No shit.
The pace when you first get there is incredible. That first day we had a stroke admit, an acute MI, a patient whose fractured ribs punctured his lung seconds before getting a CT scan (that was what had me running) and a car accident trauma patient within half an hour. Thankfully everyone helps with every patient, or else we'd all be pretty much be SOL.
I'm getting my skills down by being there too, went from blowing every vein to being able to get an IV in one try 9 times out of 10.
No other floor has as much variety either, we get a ton of critical patients but we also get a lot of people who don't really need to be there, or people who get real drunk and need to sleep it off in the ER because every once in a while they decide to quit breathing for a minute til you yell at them to take deep breaths. The psych patients occasionally freak me out. Being the only one in the room with them when they say they want to kill themselves and they're looking to take a couple people with them sort of makes you feel like you've got a hole in your stomach.
One thing I'm starting to want to scream at patients: If you're given medication, pleaseplease take it. It costs less money to go get your seizure medication than to wind up in the hospital for 5 hours after an ambulance ride when you have a SEIZURE. Not to mention seizures kind of suck in general.
The best part about tonight? Definitely the scrawny correctional facilities officer (accompanying a patient) with a huge "Outlaw" tatoo going down the entire length of his forearm :0)
Within half an hour of stepping into the ER for the first time I found myself literally racing down the halls wondering what the hell I just got myself into. Slightly intimidating? No shit.
The pace when you first get there is incredible. That first day we had a stroke admit, an acute MI, a patient whose fractured ribs punctured his lung seconds before getting a CT scan (that was what had me running) and a car accident trauma patient within half an hour. Thankfully everyone helps with every patient, or else we'd all be pretty much be SOL.
I'm getting my skills down by being there too, went from blowing every vein to being able to get an IV in one try 9 times out of 10.
No other floor has as much variety either, we get a ton of critical patients but we also get a lot of people who don't really need to be there, or people who get real drunk and need to sleep it off in the ER because every once in a while they decide to quit breathing for a minute til you yell at them to take deep breaths. The psych patients occasionally freak me out. Being the only one in the room with them when they say they want to kill themselves and they're looking to take a couple people with them sort of makes you feel like you've got a hole in your stomach.
One thing I'm starting to want to scream at patients: If you're given medication, pleaseplease take it. It costs less money to go get your seizure medication than to wind up in the hospital for 5 hours after an ambulance ride when you have a SEIZURE. Not to mention seizures kind of suck in general.
The best part about tonight? Definitely the scrawny correctional facilities officer (accompanying a patient) with a huge "Outlaw" tatoo going down the entire length of his forearm :0)