#532 - S is for Slammed

Can you see the panda with tongue sticking out?

Some days in the ED can be horrific.  Yesterday was one of those days.  Having come back from a glorious 9 days of vacation, I was ill-prepared for a full night shift as waves of patients descended upon the ED.

I hadn't even started my shift and decided to pick up a patient who had just rolled in the door by ambulance so that the prior MD could start in triage and we could let the triage MD go home early since the ED wasn't that busy.  Little did we know that the second that doc walked out the door, all chaos would break loose.

At one point or other I had:
4 dialysis patients all with various complaints
a chest pain patient that went straight to the cath lab
chest pain that got ruled out
cancer patient with a fever
low blood sugar
teen overdose on aspirin (235 pills wow!)
migraine headache

headache and dizzy

pregnant with gallbladder issues

drunk and faking seizures

colitis

terminal ileitis

2 ear pains

2 short of breaths

pneumonia

enlarged thyroid

head bleed with an aneurysm

"I want pain meds"

arm infection

leg infection

and probably several more that I can't remember in the dizzying

deluge that was last night.

Back to the fun tonight...

and, it's a Monday...

ugh...