(Tales from my past. Names are fictitious).
Relieving at the E.R. is a horror for me. I am that kind of doctor where patients are attracted to me. In other words, I invite an influx of carnage. Just the other Pre-Duty morning where I was called in for back-up, I had 3 VA (vehicular accident) patients who came in one-by-one at the E.R., all in a span of 20 mins. They were in 3 separate V.A’s, by the way.
Another time, I just spent a few minutes there chatting with the E.R. consultant before I went home. Normally, I’d be hiding in the Call Room, especially since the Clerks and Interns would want me there because of how I do attract patients. Since the E.R. consultant was spending time there and talking to me, it would be impolite to leave and hide because he’s a Senior. Not long after, 3 VA’s came in, all warranting admission, and one was straight to the O.R.
And that’s why staying at the E.R. is horrifying… but after my tour of duty there, I have to admit, I enjoyed the adrenaline rush the E.R. brings… even just a little bit.
8am. I got a call from our counterparts in (our other hospital) that they’re transferring a stab wound patient. Vina is 29y.o; female, found sprawled by the side of the road around 5am with a stab wound on the right side of her chest. She had a chest tube stuck up on her side to drain the air and the blood inside the thoracic cavity. However, she was developing a cardiac tamponade. That meant the bleeding in the chest was becoming massive that it’s compressing her heart. She needed an ‘E’ Thoracotomy. That entailed slicing in between the ribs and separating these ribs like opening a bag of Oishi Potato chips na lightly salted. (We’re supporting local products. And I’m so hungry.)
Oh, and by the way, she’s 10weeks pregnant.
She wasn’t much help, too. She doesn’t know her past medical history. Heck, she didn’t even know she was stabbed!!
She either didn’t know or she wanted to conceal the events that lead to that.
Anyway, that didn’t matter now. She was going to be transferred to our hospital, brought to the E.R., then straight up to the O.R.
When she arrived at my E.R, it was like a fiesta: IV insertion, NGT insertion, Foley catheter insertion, blood extraction, vital signs monitoring, oxygen inhalation, someone connecting electrodes, someone undressing/dressing her, and an OB-Gyne Resident examining her. Baby is in distress. Very much in distress. Not good.
20 minutes after her arrival, we E.R. peeps were done with her and she was immediately brought up to the O.R. (Gotta hand it to those E.R. nurses, clerks and interns. They’re efficient!)
As she left, it was like a large thorn was taken out of us. Then, the anticipated teasing on my “power” came up. Yeah, yeah, yeah…
Jeez. 8:30am. Welcome to my Sunday Duty.
(To be continued.)
This post is tagged Medical Tales, pregnant, vehicular accident
