I spent Sunday in the ER...literally. We rounded in the morning and then I went to the ER around 1pm and was there until my shift ended at 10pm...actually, i stayed a bit longer since i was learning and stoked to be there. [left to see my patients when needed and took care of other work...dont worry].
I met a first year ER resident [J] and stayed with him in the 'resource' room which is mainly where they do simple procedures like laceration repair, I&Ds, etc. first thing i did was bring in a kid who hit his head on the edge of a pool and had a bad scalp lac, probably 4-5 inches. we irrigated it, numbed it up, and J put in some staples. it was hilarious to watch this kid bend his head forward and hold a bucket under his head to let the blood and water fall into it. he was just watching the drips of blood hit the bottom of the container and didnt care at all. his mom on the other hand...we had to ask her to step in the hallway and take a seat. when we were done, i was about to clean up the kids head and hair [full of blood] when J said, wait, go show your mom first. cruel....but funny joke.
i saw a couple patients on my own, another peds patient [starting to like them a bit more when they dont cry...] and then J taught me a couple of other things. i gave some chick a shot of toradol, did some OMM on her neck because she had a major muscle spasm. it was all pretty hands on and all very fun.
at one point in the afternoon i ended up hanging out in another pod and met another resident. when i told him the deal [that i was on family medicine and spending my downtime in the ER because i am applying to the program] he welcomed me and said "great, wanna see a patient? go talk to bed 6 and let me know whats up." the best part about the people in the ER is there isnt much attitude. everyone gets along, laughs, treats each other as equals. such a good environment to learn in.
and yeah, best part of the day is J introducing me to an attending and then 10 minutes later, another attending walks in and that doctor says "oh, this is the man you want to meet. i am just a peon in this ER, very insignificant. HE is the man you want to talk to. the big kahuna." after looking at the name tag, i realized it was the program director of the residency. the man who makes the decisions about applicants. THE man. i introduced myself, told him i want to go to the program, and the first question he asked was "favorite food?" guacamole and chips... i think it was a good answer. he was very nice and before he left he repeated my name and tried to remember it. hopefully i get to work with him more on my actual ER rotation there in a couple months....
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