working in trauma, basically all i see is variations of a few things...MVC or MCC, shooting or stabbing, and falls. pretty much everything can get siphoned down into these categories, so it's not unusual for me to have some pretty similar patients. but today was a little ridiculous.
today i had essentially the same patient. four times.
four middle aged men. all with rib fractures, thirty five (!) between them. three MCCs, one fall. two clavicle fractures. three with chest tubes. five chest tubes between the four of them. two with epidurals. two who required a VATS: one pre-op and one post-op. got all that?
yeah, neither did i.
you'd think that all this repetition would make things easier for me. it didn't. all night long my head was spinning. did i change that chest tube dressing? well i know i changed somebody's....and marking all the chest tubes? auditing the epidurals? where are we on pain meds? is everyone doing their IS? who's on oxygen? are everyone's sats ok? my brain. melting.
i'm still not sure if everything is done, and i left work a long time ago.
i cannot remember which side the rib fractures are on in my only patient without a chest tube, and i'm obsessing over it. let's not lie, it's irrelevant to me now, but the fact that all these people are blending together is crazy-making.
it's to the point where i'm almost wishing for a nice GSW to break up the repetition, to free me from the monotony!!
almost.
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