Common sense is not very common these days. These are all phrases I had to use last night, many in triage:
"Yes, your heart will feel like it is racing if you do meth"
"If you pick at your scab, it will bleed. I don't care what the nurse at the jail told you"
"If you are asleep and then you sit up and open your eyes, yes, that means you are awake"
"You need to go to the dentist, not the ER if all your upper teeth are rotten and you want them pulled. You don't have any money? I see that you are still smoking 2 packs a day. Use that money"
"No, just because your child's "earwax looks weird" does not mean you need to rush him to the ER"
"I am really sorry your car broke down but no we don't give free hotel coupons"
"No you cannot sit in the lobby until your bus comes in 3 days"
"I can't give you a doctor's note saying you were seen in the ER and to give you time off work unless you were actually seen in the ER"
Oh man. Here are some things I am thankful for to end this on a happy note:
Listening to Enya on my drive home
No traffic on Sunday mornings
I found cherry kool-aid at work
Also...I had a great idea this morning. We should take some of our more persistent transients, (the ones that have to be escorted off property multiple times at night) and shower them and comb their hair and put them in a hospital-issued polo shirt and have them be the greeter at the door like at Wal-Mart. It is a win-win situation....they are not trying to check into the ER every hour or out calling ambulances to bring them to the ER, we give them a warm place to sit, clean shirts and unlimited coffee. I am a genius.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Come on people...
Whoa. Work has been busy. Record number of patients in the ER seen in the last 24 hours. My feet are sore from being on them so long.
Insane story from a friend of mine....a fellow RN in the ER where I work, my age... was driving home yesterday morning and while in town crossing the railroad tracks she noticed a man laying down on the tracks, about 50 feet away in the snow, waving and yelling for help. It was cold and there was snow (see my post from yesterday), so she pulled over and got out and went over to the man. He was yelling that he hurt his leg (she said it was obviously broken). Of course about this time a train is coming down the tracks, so my friend pulls the guy off of the tracks, maybe hurting his leg more but definitely getting him out of harm's way. So this is all before 8am on a cold, snowy morning during rush hour traffic. A train was coming so all traffic was stopped and the thing that shocked my friend the most she said was that out of all the traffic that was stopped waiting for the train downtown, NO ONE got out to help her pull this man off the tracks. A young woman dragging an older man in the snow and cold and no one even rolled down their window to yell and see if she needed help...can you believe it? I am so disappointed in people. After she drug him clear of the tracks she called 911 and police and an ambulance showed up and still no other Samaritans offered their help. How sad. He made it to the hospital and she made it home to bed but really??
Insane story from a friend of mine....a fellow RN in the ER where I work, my age... was driving home yesterday morning and while in town crossing the railroad tracks she noticed a man laying down on the tracks, about 50 feet away in the snow, waving and yelling for help. It was cold and there was snow (see my post from yesterday), so she pulled over and got out and went over to the man. He was yelling that he hurt his leg (she said it was obviously broken). Of course about this time a train is coming down the tracks, so my friend pulls the guy off of the tracks, maybe hurting his leg more but definitely getting him out of harm's way. So this is all before 8am on a cold, snowy morning during rush hour traffic. A train was coming so all traffic was stopped and the thing that shocked my friend the most she said was that out of all the traffic that was stopped waiting for the train downtown, NO ONE got out to help her pull this man off the tracks. A young woman dragging an older man in the snow and cold and no one even rolled down their window to yell and see if she needed help...can you believe it? I am so disappointed in people. After she drug him clear of the tracks she called 911 and police and an ambulance showed up and still no other Samaritans offered their help. How sad. He made it to the hospital and she made it home to bed but really??
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
New Snow
New Year's was a quiet night in the ER, it probably helped that we were on ICU/trauma divert because we were already holding inpatients in the ER so we didn't get any of the drunken car crashes thank goodness. Last night it rained and rained and then it finally turned to snow. The drive from work this morning was quiet and gorgeous even though it was icy. There was so much untouched snow I was wishing for my siblings and mom and dad and the old Land Cruiser so we could get pulled behind it on sleds like we used to do (not in town obviously). I was the first one to turn onto the street where my apartment complex is this morning and besides a giant jack rabbit I saw bouncing around, the first one to walk through the snow. Here is a picture. Snow is so pretty....and it muffles outside noise for better daytime sleep ;)
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