Cracking the chest

I dont not even know where to start this blog. 2 nights ago a patient bled out in our trauma room because her boyfriend stabbed her 15-20 times in the chest and abdomen....and then I drive home and try to sleep and live my normal day to day life. I have not been the same.



Christmas eve: Night 1: absolutely not how I thought it was going to go. I figured okay everyone will be home with their families boy was I wrong. I ran my ass all night long. I guess there is more freedom on nights. The Emergency room was really busy but I did my job and went home to get some much needed rest...only GOD knew what was coming the next night.

Christmas: I come in...just clocked in and I run into the trauma room because we have a CPR in process and No Nurses in the room, likely because everyone had super sick patients and everyone was trying to save their lives. Patient had been down about an hour and despite many rounds of ACLS the patient died.

Sometimes I think that if I did not work nights and work with a certain doc I would be behind or miss out on seeing amazing talent and willpower to save a life. Nights are just crazy. Of course this night was extremely busy as the night before. I guess our 50plus bed ER is never a patient short but always short on staff. I ran by the trauma room to see my coworkers performing CPR, gowned and scrambling around and here we go. Here we had a 26yr old female who appears to have taken a significant beating and has been stabbed multiple times in the chest and abdomen, on scene she had a pulse....DR. Amazing cracks the chest, clamps the aorta and starts to manually massage the heart while having one of my coworkers take over he inserts a 5f cordis and everyone is on chairs pressure squeezing blood and fluids into the patient. We tried so hard...but despite the efforts the patient did not make it. Merry F'in Christmas. I felt helpless. immediatley after EMS brings in the "boyfriend" altered mental status who is covered in blood.....how do you switch and now take care of this man? I couldnt do it. Needless to say he medically checked out and is in custody. My coworkers and I could not stop talking about this event all night. Our therapy.

December 26-Sunday: hell....end of story.

I am pretty sure I am getting sick..I am not surprised.

There is no I in team...except at this hospital

Last week I had a very sick ICU patient who came in around midnight, luckily for me I knew he would be ICU early on (I then prepared him for ICU admit) it was just convincing the ER doc that the patient was "that" sick. (sarcasm) I just wonder what ever happened to the idea of team? This patient was very sick and Not one of my co-workers decided to get off their ass to help me. This patient's pressure was dropping and all I could think of was him arresting in my room. If it was not one critical change in this patient it was another. Hypoglycemia, hypotension,possible PE, renal failure and of course intense pain due to the fact this patients legs were the size of an elephants. This was the type of patient that should be 1 on 1 and I was one on one only because there were few other "really sick" patients in the ER that night. I finally get a chance to go eat my lunch...( or just took a second to noursish my being) I was in the breakroom right next to this patients room maybe 5 mins. A nurse runs in "Do you know his pressure is 50/17!?" OMG! "yes" I respond...."its been in the shitter all night and the doc wants to send him to tele and maybe try one more bolus." Nice of them to notice that I might need a hand at some point instead of sitting on their asses decorating for Christmas. The charge nurse then comes in and tells me to go take care of my patient. You have got to be kidding me...the nerve of these nurses. It is just times like this where you work so hard and try to do so much for patients...sucks when they do not notice but I almost feel as though it sucks more when your co-workers watch you run all night long and do not offer a hand. WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO TEAM? oh and I had this patient for a total of 7hours. I just love ICU holds