for those of you who are interested in what my job is like. or for those of you who work with me, you will appreciate this.
i work in the er at a level 1 trauma center. it's also a burn center and a stroke center. so we see it all. granted, it's in salt lake city, utah, so there is probably a lot we don't see because the good stuff is happening elsewhere, but still. we see a lot.
here are a few highlights of the patients i've seen lately...
day 1-trauma 1 where woman gets impaled through the chest with a 2x2.
day 2-26 year old guy with a blood alcohol level of 617 (.617). for those who don't know, the legal limit to drive is 80 (.08)somehow, dude was still conscious enough to try and climb out of bed.
also day 2-18 year old dude comes in puking his guts out. says he had no alcohol to drink but took a drink from someone he didn't know. we already know this kid is going somewhere in life. ps. day 2 was a friday night, if you couldn't tell.
day 3-woman gives birth to baby in her van outside the er entrance. mom goes to labor and delivery. baby is blue and not crying. rushed back to er and pinked up. went up to see mom a few minutes later.
also day 3-woman comes in with ischemic stroke (clot obstructing blood flow to her head). woman given clot busting medication. woman then hemorrhages into her head, causing a second stroke in 1 day. now that sucks.
and those are just the patients from 1 week. i didn't even mention the people on bikes who get hit by cars and come in with their femurs (yes, plural) sticking out, or those that burn themselves intentionally and accidentally catch their significant other on fire. or the good old patients who stick things where they don't belong and can't get them out. or dudes who take "enhancing" medications and then are too shy to come to the er until the only form of treatment is sticking large needles in places where needles don't belong, or better yet, surgery where there is a filet and i don't mean food.
and people say nurses hardly work because we get 4 days off a week. but trust me, we need that 4 days after 3 days like that.
oh you crack me up. i used to nanny for a family that the dad was a paramedic. every third week he would be home sleeping or running errands, and i'd always corner him to tell me the latest funny stories. it just never fails to amaze me the stupidity of people. obviously some of them you feel horrible for. you work at a great hospital though, they took such great care of my dad! and actually my baby was seen in the er at the childrens hospital there too. i dont have enough good things to say.
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