Thursday, November 11, 2004

The All Powerful

The last two weeks have been deficient on patient interaction but great for getting to know the people I work with. I managed to come out of my depression and the patients managed to stay alive, at least until the AM. As a result of this slow down I’ve had a lot of time to talk with friends and “hang out/complainin/to the Emergency Room.

My distaste for emergency physicians is well known to my readers and I have certainly commented on it before. The most important reason is that things tend to be treated as “emergencies” even when they are clearly not. However, I will allow other medically oriented blogs discuss this, as I am certain they are more capable.

Over the course of the last two weeks numerous admissions were, to say the least, “questionable”. Last night’s two admissions of Man with chest pain after football game (clearly traumatic) and lady with no symptoms and a heart rate below 60 (ie:.Fifty Nine, at rest!) raise my concerns. The most troubling thing is that once the decision to admit is made it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to talk the EP (GOD) out of it.

Me: “But I’m just going to send them home as soon as they come upstairs”
ER: BLANK

It’s useless.

Dear Readers, a fair warning: Whatever you do, don’t come to the Emergency Room if you are absolutely healthy. You may, unfortunately, have to deal with characters the shades of me which were sent to impose upon you by the likes of GOD. By the end of the evening GOD may even diagnose some horrible disease like “Snoring too loudly” or “Being too cheerful in the ER”. After that, you’ll be admitted and we’ll perform unnecessary tests, painful blood draws and you may even end up having a big ass needle or two shoved into some body part you kind of need.

By the way: If I use any nickname you are not familiar with, please refer to new dictionary posted in sidebar, only limited by my imagination.