So I started today off early getting up and getting ready to spend a mandatory 8 hours in the local hospital ER for my EMT class.
While very nervous at first (I guess I half expected gunshot wounds and amputations even though this is a small town) after the first patient came in with a minor problem (something in his eye), I got down to business and did what I came to do.
The highlights of the day were as follows:
A guy came in with "pain in his lower chest" that he rated as an 8 out of 10. He kept saying "8 out of 10" Dustin Hoffman/Rain Man style as he kept swiveling around in his stool (while reading a magazine) and kept asking what he was gonna need for pain. The doctor came in, talked to him for a quick second, and said "You have a pulled muscle. Not much we can do about that." Nurses later told me that this patient comes in twice a week looking for meds.
An inmate from the local prison came in with chest pain. In the radio report we were told that he is from Poland and INS was schedule to transport him back to his home country today.
Long story short, we get him in the ER, do everything we need to do, and of course everything checks out OK. When the doctor came in and told this, he suddenly had both head and leg pain. The doctor once again called bull**** and told him he only came in with chest pain so that was his only concern at the moment. He was packed up by the guards with him and is presumably on his flight back to the mother country at this moment.
Now this is where it gets funny (and kind of sick):
Without going into details (a hint gets dropped) a female came in with 3 kids all under the age of 5 complaining of "female problems" (if you will) slightly after the Polish fellow came in. Since chest pain is of way more concern than female problems I didnt see this lady like I would have had no one else been in the ER. I only know what the cause was when the ER Doc came out laughing talking about her problem and blaming it on "Her boyfriend drinking beer and performing oral sex on her" that caused the problem. You figure that out on your own. The Doc did get her points on originality to the ladys credit.
All in all a boring day at the ER. A few of the nurses were total bitches to me. They know that EMTs have to do stuff like blood pressure, pulse, and respirations manually instead of just putting on a blood pressure cuff, hitting a button and not having to worry about it...but a couple insisted that doing things manually took too much time so I got bitched at everytime I tried honing my skills. And there wasnt much action in the way that I could really particapte in..i.e. bandages, blood sugars, etc. so I had a really boring day. I plan on going back and trying again on a Friday/Saturday Second shift and seeing what comes of that.
Later on I hosted a 2 hour study session for my EMT class. While only 5 people came (including my instructor) I did turn 3 of them on to my homebrew (I'm currently drinking Midwest Supplies Boundary Waters Wheat). After the session was over I showed them my fermentors my bottles (all 8 trillion) and my soon to brew AG kits.
My instructor even expressed interest in joining me on a brewday
Lets just hope that means extra credit.
All in all, a damn good day.
Prost everyone!
While very nervous at first (I guess I half expected gunshot wounds and amputations even though this is a small town) after the first patient came in with a minor problem (something in his eye), I got down to business and did what I came to do.
The highlights of the day were as follows:
A guy came in with "pain in his lower chest" that he rated as an 8 out of 10. He kept saying "8 out of 10" Dustin Hoffman/Rain Man style as he kept swiveling around in his stool (while reading a magazine) and kept asking what he was gonna need for pain. The doctor came in, talked to him for a quick second, and said "You have a pulled muscle. Not much we can do about that." Nurses later told me that this patient comes in twice a week looking for meds.
An inmate from the local prison came in with chest pain. In the radio report we were told that he is from Poland and INS was schedule to transport him back to his home country today.
Long story short, we get him in the ER, do everything we need to do, and of course everything checks out OK. When the doctor came in and told this, he suddenly had both head and leg pain. The doctor once again called bull**** and told him he only came in with chest pain so that was his only concern at the moment. He was packed up by the guards with him and is presumably on his flight back to the mother country at this moment.
Now this is where it gets funny (and kind of sick):
Without going into details (a hint gets dropped) a female came in with 3 kids all under the age of 5 complaining of "female problems" (if you will) slightly after the Polish fellow came in. Since chest pain is of way more concern than female problems I didnt see this lady like I would have had no one else been in the ER. I only know what the cause was when the ER Doc came out laughing talking about her problem and blaming it on "Her boyfriend drinking beer and performing oral sex on her" that caused the problem. You figure that out on your own. The Doc did get her points on originality to the ladys credit.
All in all a boring day at the ER. A few of the nurses were total bitches to me. They know that EMTs have to do stuff like blood pressure, pulse, and respirations manually instead of just putting on a blood pressure cuff, hitting a button and not having to worry about it...but a couple insisted that doing things manually took too much time so I got bitched at everytime I tried honing my skills. And there wasnt much action in the way that I could really particapte in..i.e. bandages, blood sugars, etc. so I had a really boring day. I plan on going back and trying again on a Friday/Saturday Second shift and seeing what comes of that.
Later on I hosted a 2 hour study session for my EMT class. While only 5 people came (including my instructor) I did turn 3 of them on to my homebrew (I'm currently drinking Midwest Supplies Boundary Waters Wheat). After the session was over I showed them my fermentors my bottles (all 8 trillion) and my soon to brew AG kits.
My instructor even expressed interest in joining me on a brewday
Lets just hope that means extra credit.
All in all, a damn good day.
Prost everyone!
