I moved to a place where I was supposed to just see grannies with urinary tract infections. I wasn't supposed to come in, on a half day shift no less, and see a full board, with a full waiting room and deal with:
- had big log fall on me - patient works with a lumber company and had a huge log fall on leg and trap it until they were able to saw it away. He had a knee strain but I was worried about damage and swelling in the muscles of his leg. Luckily, everything turned out ok.
- vomiting blood - patient with liver disease who came in bleeding from both ends. A tube in their nose put out over a liter (1/3 of a gallon) of bloody stuff within the first 5 minutes it was in. Not to mention they had a broken nose because a "friend" assaulted them when they were drunk. They got a central line and transferred to the city hospital.
- heart attack - patient who came in complaining their lungs felt heavy who I initially dismissed but then decided to get labs and an EKG on. They were getting tired of waiting, and I was able to convince them to stay by feeding them. They were going to be admitted to the city hospital.
- stroke - patient had been goofy all day and family finally decided to bring them in that evening. They were going to be transferred when I left.
- bleeding into leg - 90+ who'd recently had surgery and was now anemic from probable blood loss into their leg. They were white as a ghost. He came in complaining of an upset stomach.
- and a whole mess of other small things I ran in and evaluated quickly in between these patients.... wow. I saw almost as many patients in my six hour shift as I usually see in a twelve hour shift. Just some jam-packed Monday fun...
