I'm batting lots to none!!!
Can you believe it?!?!? I made it through a month of my emergency rotation without having anyone die on my shift!!! Wonder if I can make it out of medical school with no deaths...probably not.
My last shift in emerg was good. I had lots of interesting cases, got to cardiovert a patient (sedate them and shock their heart back into a normal rhythm), and got a good eval from my preceptor.
Earlier in the shift I had the choice of cases: a 70 yo lady with a complaint of "weakness" and a 52 yo lady with chest pain...I figured I'd had enough of chest pain that usually turned out to be benign, so I chose the lady with weakness. My preceptor: Look at you go! These cases are always tough to tease out (especially when the patient doesn't speak english) and are commonly due to dehydration or heart failure or a diagnosis like "failure to thrive".
I walk into the patients room and immediately see that this lady is sick. Really sick. Vital signs are stable, but she's sick. She was being treated for metastatic breast cancer and had just undergone her first round of chemo. She was incoherent, barely conscious, and yellow like a banana...the chief complaint didn't mention that. And yes, she was weak. We admitted her to her oncologist to let him sort it out, but it looks like she had liver failure.
Later in my shift I was shunted back to the fast track area. I saw 4 fevers in a row. Awesome! Surprisingly, none of them were kids. The best one was a school teacher with fever and flu-like symptoms and 9 sick kids in her class. "Why do I have a fever?" I'm not dignifying that question with an answer. Another was a guy with a fever that wouldn't go away without Tylenol. "Should I keep taking it?" Again, I'm not dignifying that question with an answer.
Like I said last post, some people are amazingly stupid.
If I didn't have my fill people who are actually sick, my next rotation will fulfill my need. Internal Medicine here I come!!! I haven't been on call since October-ish, I wonder what the call rooms will be like? I hope they have down duvets and fluffy pillows and candles. Here's to hoping!
My last shift in emerg was good. I had lots of interesting cases, got to cardiovert a patient (sedate them and shock their heart back into a normal rhythm), and got a good eval from my preceptor.
Earlier in the shift I had the choice of cases: a 70 yo lady with a complaint of "weakness" and a 52 yo lady with chest pain...I figured I'd had enough of chest pain that usually turned out to be benign, so I chose the lady with weakness. My preceptor: Look at you go! These cases are always tough to tease out (especially when the patient doesn't speak english) and are commonly due to dehydration or heart failure or a diagnosis like "failure to thrive".
I walk into the patients room and immediately see that this lady is sick. Really sick. Vital signs are stable, but she's sick. She was being treated for metastatic breast cancer and had just undergone her first round of chemo. She was incoherent, barely conscious, and yellow like a banana...the chief complaint didn't mention that. And yes, she was weak. We admitted her to her oncologist to let him sort it out, but it looks like she had liver failure.
Later in my shift I was shunted back to the fast track area. I saw 4 fevers in a row. Awesome! Surprisingly, none of them were kids. The best one was a school teacher with fever and flu-like symptoms and 9 sick kids in her class. "Why do I have a fever?" I'm not dignifying that question with an answer. Another was a guy with a fever that wouldn't go away without Tylenol. "Should I keep taking it?" Again, I'm not dignifying that question with an answer.
Like I said last post, some people are amazingly stupid.
If I didn't have my fill people who are actually sick, my next rotation will fulfill my need. Internal Medicine here I come!!! I haven't been on call since October-ish, I wonder what the call rooms will be like? I hope they have down duvets and fluffy pillows and candles. Here's to hoping!
posted by MSI (Med Student Intern) @ 5:15 PM
2 Comments:
At 12:31 PM,
Anonymous said…
Hey sweetie....saw your Calgary preceptor yesterday and he wants me to help convince you to consider urban family practice rather than rural. He, his staff and his patients all loved you!
Love You Too!
At 6:15 PM,
Anonymous said…
Hey there,
I am an old ER nurse w/ swollen ankles & I am curious, were you working in a Trauma Center?
Most ER is cookbook. I hear ya about the time-wasters. The fun part of Emergency Med. is differential dx.ie working backwards from whats gonna kill em first and figuring out who to take care of first.That is what I enjoy.
It is similar to family practice without the overhead unless you are working in a Trauma Center which is my preference.If you get a chance you might consider doing it for a rotation.Have fun in internal med.
Mercymeenursey@yahoo.com
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