Another rough shift

I guess I had gotten complacent with the way that things were going, and today the fates decided to remind me of how tough this thing can be. It was just bad. I also managed to piss off one of the techs. She told me that one of the patients was not doing so hot. I kind of blew her off since we were getting hammered.

Big Mistake.

The next thing I know, someone else is coming to me saying that the patient "has issues." In my defense, when a patient "has issues," it usually means that they don't like how long it is taking to get their test results back, and they want to piss and moan about how everyone is not dropping everything to deal with their six week old problem in the next five minutes. Well, this time it meant that the patient was hypoxic, and were starting to clamber all over their stretcher in agitation. They literally were fine five minutes earlier.

So, long story short, I botched things, and the tech was pissed. Understandable. I ate my humble pie and told her that I had done her wrong, and that I would try to be more attentive in the future. Mea culpa.

I ended up putting a tube into that patient. Then there was the guy who got stabbed in the chest by his girlfriend. He got a tube put into his lung as well, but not through the mouth. Instead, his went through the chest wall. Then there were a half dozen other patients, all of them had long wait times while I juggled the more critically ill. By the end of the day, I was past ready to go home. I quietly endured the surgical resident bitching about me consulting him. Once he hda finished his tirade about getting conulted over nothing (possible mesenteric ischemia is not 'nothing') I just said that he was in curtain umpteen, and that he could take his time since I was leaving one way or the other, and his surgical brother, the urology rotator (a urology resident rotating through the ER) was going to deal with whatever he decided whenever he decided it. So, I wrote a modest order for antiemetics and pain medication before I left, figuring that neither of them would care about checking on the patient for ... hours.

So, now I am sipping my diet Dr. Pepper, enjoying the weather,listening to my ipod, and surfing the net while I wonder what my wife is wearing.

Respectfully Submitted,
-doc Russia