Posted on October 22nd, 2008 by Jessica
I was told I would not make as much money as my immediate predesessors, but that I would have a nice live. I was told that I would hardly get any sleep for ten years straight, but I would be invigorated by the experience of saving lives. I was told that some colleagues are rude, condescending, and difficult to work with, but that they would teach me some amazing things about treating patients. i was told that Emergency medicine was at the nexus of American health care, but i was not told that 50-80% of my patients actually do not need me, and I could actually do without them as well. Read more…
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Filed under: Emergency Medicine
Posted on October 20th, 2008 by Jessica
If it is possible to die from a million paper cuts then the Emergency Department is where it’s going to happen. This is literally true considering MRSA and figuratively true considering the mounting obligations piled upon emergency professionals. Read more…
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Filed under: Emergency Medicine, General Medicine, Jokes, story
Posted on October 18th, 2008 by Jessica
Yesterday I had the gut-wretching experience of caring for that asthmatic you all talk about. He was the patient you have dedicated so much time to teaching us about. Read more…
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Filed under: Emergency Medicine, General Medicine, story
Posted on September 27th, 2008 by Jessica
At 3 AM a man presented to C-Booth (the critical care section of the Emergency Department) vomiting massive amounts of blood and nearly choking to death. He was going downhill fast, and needed to be intubated (placing a breathing tube). The intubation was not going well, and his blood-oxygen levels were dropping as repeated attempts failed. Read more…
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Filed under: Emergency Medicine, Jokes, Story, story
Posted on September 27th, 2008 by Jessica
Seeing Martin Luther King Hospital close kind of reminded me of the Wizard of Oz, or perhaps more accurately the hit musical ‘Wicked’. it seems like everywhere you turned the closure was celebrated as a triumph for good, and the downfall of evil. You could almost hear Los Angeles Times staff members chanting “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead”. Read more…
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Filed under: Emergency Medicine, General Medicine
Posted on September 5th, 2008 by Jessica
Today I was lucky enough to have have a short daytime shift that was steady but not overly busy. It was actually quite perfect. Only one test had been inexplicably delayed by hours, and the patients were pleasant with medical complaints that made sense. I only had one patient with a small case of verbal diarrhea, and he was a sweet older man who was just trying to be helpful. The good mood I started my shift with was actually lasting into the afternoon. Then I had a wet blanket thrown on me–from a fellow doctor no less. Read more…
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Filed under: Emergency Medicine, General Medicine
Posted on August 22nd, 2008 by Jessica
Between the cacophony of drunken screams, schizophrenic ideations, and demented geriatric anger i wonder when this crazy EM world took over so many of my nights. At 3AM the ED staff themsleves seem to become giddy; probably from some circadian chemical reflex arc that should only exist during sleep. In these moments I recognize how intimately my life is connected to every one of these lunatics surrounding me in the ED. Nurse Patty sits there sucking on her fentanyl lollipop to alleviate back pain. She’s had thirty years of hard time in the ED and reminds us every so often that she hates this job, but can’t afford to retire. Once she offered me a lick. Read more…
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Filed under: Emergency Medicine, General Medicine
Posted on August 20th, 2008 by Jessica
Posted on August 17th, 2008 by Jessica
**Some details have been altered to protect the confidentiality of true patients, however the rest remains the truth as I have experienced it**
Doctors and nurses in my Community Emergency Department (ED) knew Wild Bill as well as anyone. The ED certainly saw him more frequently than many of his family and friends. Read more…
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Filed under: Emergency Medicine, General Medicine, Uncategorized
Posted on August 13th, 2008 by Jessica
Ok, I don’t actually spend a lot of time in Taco Bell, but when a chualupa calls sometimes you just gotta answer. It seems like every business I visit utilizes technology better than hospitals and emergency departments (ED’s). It is a sad day for medicine when every fast food restaurant in the country can computerize and streamline their services better than 90% of ED’s which continue to use pen and paper. Read more…
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Filed under: Emergency Medicine, Money Matters
Happy Valentine's from Lou Lewis, RN