Diary from the ER

I've seen quite the variety of people as well as cases this month: the good, the bad, and the insane. A disclaimer: my intent is not to poke fun at people with legitimate medical problems who can genuinely benefit from the medical care we provide, but the intent is to find some humor in otherwise disheartening and depressing social situations (ie. seeing people misuse and abuse medical care while others who need it can't get it). Besides, there's times when you gotta find ways to laugh to keep from crying or overly stressing yourself out.

In terms of types of patients, there's the ones that can't imagine a life without daily narcotics/sedatives/major tranquilizers and would like our help in legally obtaining these (wink-wink, nudge-nudge). There's others who I feel silly asking who their family doctor is--because DUH, that's what the ER's for (my mistake). Then, there's others who think we are McDonalds: if they've been waiting 15min then that's too long, and their knee (which seems to be hurting unbearably every time they visit the ER meanwhile they watch TV looking quite comfortable and walk around with ease) trumps the guy with a heart attack and the lady who can barely breathe. Still (it gets better) others audaciously demand to be fed during their 1-2hr visit the ER. There are those who have no sense of the cost of providing healthcare because they don't pay anything in the form of a copay or deductible and have no incentive not to abuse the system. There's others who refuse to accept any consequences to their behavior and see fit to accuse and verbally abuse others when their actions lead to unhappy outcomes. For example, a person came in complaining of abdominal pain, but not in acute distress, and had no medical indication that anything was emergently wrong with them. This person denied having any relief from prescription-strength tylenol or motrin, so was given a dose of strong narcotics which the patient finally said it helped. The patient became upset when the staff held onto her narcotic prescriptions while she went out "for a smoke" and just erupted when she was told that we legally could not allow her to drive her car knowingly under the influence of heavy narcotics (the equivalent of being sloppy-drunk)-- she would have to call and wait for someone to come get her. She was even offered a taxi ride free-of-charge. Neither of these options were acceptable to her, and she forcefully yelled and fussed at the staff about everything being our fault (which very much resembled a toddler temper-tantrum, quite entertaining to a small degree but mostly annoying and tiresome). The police were called to help talk some since into her and calm her down. Well, they ended up slowly chasing her around the parking lot for at least a half-hour until eventually hauling her away.

Then, there are those who I refer to as the "heart-break kids." Those who have a bad case of the "kids-raising-kids" syndrome. Those who are more upset about the inconvenience to their personal lives than the fact that their children are hurt or sick--which just breaks your heart (hence their title).

Other times, there are people that come into the ER because of what the doctor affectionately calls "a case of TMBD" (too many birth-days). These are the people who I'm sure at one point led fulfilling lives and contributed much to society, but who now can't control their bladder or bowels, can't tell you what day it is, who their are, or what they did that day, and a part of you wonders if they have come to the hospital for their final admission. (once again, not meant to be insulting, just a way of finding an ounce of humor in an otherwise depressing situation)

Then, their are the bright spots in your day. There are those who have come into the ER not because they wanted to, but because the ambulance or their spouse brought them. They are so appreciative of any care you provide to them, they are more worried about being a burden on your time than the concussion, deep cut, or heart attack that they are experiencing, their family and friends are supportive and grateful for the care they are receiving, and they keep apologizing for injuring themselves and making you take care of them.

I must admit that I've met both some of the nicest and easy-going people as well as the meanest, most manipulative people while working in the ER. All in all, it's been a great experience and one I will not soon forget.