Life in the Green Zone

Emergency or non-emergency?

2009-10-31T18:19:43Z

Sometimes, on the really long nights, everything runs together. I walk out having forgotten half my patients, and I get confused as to what happened which night. It almost always feels like more than twelve hours pass in any given night. Of cours...

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Didn't know you could do that with nitro paste...

2009-10-29T13:09:12Z

While working on the floor, I noticed a trend. Each nurse seemed to attract a certain type of patient. One always got young patients with drug problems, another always got patients with somewhat disgusting conditions, and somebody else seemed to g...

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Recap

2009-10-29T12:40:34Z

In the week since I've blogged, here's what I didn't get around to posting... Patient with a potassium of 1.4. EKG looked like crap. Didn't know that was compatible with life. Apparently it took more than 100 mEq IV potassium to get it up to 3.5,...

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Just Keep Smiling

2009-10-21T23:55:38Z

Last night, I braved my first solo night in triage. Triage is always, well, interesting, because of the people you talk to and the stories you hear. You have to sort through all the information, decide what's pertinent, summarize it in a small bo...

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Code Brown

2009-10-20T12:38:28Z

So last night I took over orange at eleven. Fortunately, the black hole of death room only had two patients, and both were quite pleasant. Even if they were somewhat sick. I didn't realize how sick one was, though, until I checked a blood pressur...

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Oops.

2009-10-15T20:48:43Z

Earlier this morning, while writing my previous post, I encountered an untimely computer error that resulted in me getting pissed off and going to bed, and my post getting posted unfinished. Now that I fixed it, though, you should go back and read...

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The Green Zone Strikes Again

2009-10-15T13:02:06Z

After last night, I'd say it definitely has to be a full moon, or close to it. It was an odd night to say the least, but the green zone was hopping. All the regular hall beds were full with people actually needing psych evals (as opposed to the d...

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First Things First

2009-10-10T12:31:27Z

To all our motorcycle patients from last night: Thank you, thank you, thank you for wearing your helmets! You have no idea how much easier this makes life for us, and how much better it makes your life after an accident. True, maybe you didn't m...

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The Orange Black Hole of Death

2009-10-07T03:46:39Z

Okay, so maybe the death part is an exaggeration. But the black hole part isn't. Every colored zone in our department has its, well, its personality. Orange is evil. Like the flames of hell, or something. You have two hall beds and one room....

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Identity Crisis

2009-10-03T04:56:49Z

Last night at work we had Trauma Thursday. Now, I always wondered about things like this happening, but this was the first time I'd experienced it. Walked into work, saw that my assignment for the night was trauma, saw on the tracking board that...

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