Comments on: Open Mic Weekend

By: Allison

Allison — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 15:06:30 +0000

For the next open mic weekend, I’m gonna need an entire medical breakdown of Abby and Brittany Hensel, those 22-year-old conjoined twins that are basically like a two-headed body (and have their own organs until you get to their intestines when everything is shared). I especially want to know about all things related to sex, and all things related to critical illness, especially if one is critically ill but the other is not. Questions to get you started: What happens if one is brain dead and the other isn’t? How would you do compressions (they have 2 hearts)? How would you defibrillate?

This has been the talk of our unit ever since their show came on TLC. It’s pretty mindblowing to think about!

By: WhiteCoat

WhiteCoat — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 03:14:05 +0000

No. Seriously. Time sensitive issue.
I know the “someone” and it’s potentially a big deal.

By: WhiteCoat

WhiteCoat — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 03:11:31 +0000

I think Reader’s Digest did the same thing with emergency departments a few years ago. I seem to remember that Grunt Doc took a little heat for some secrets he suggested.
I’ll bet that we could probably make a better list regarding the ED if you all were interested. Don’t know that we could come up with 50 secrets, but we could probably come up with quite a few.

By: WhiteCoat

WhiteCoat — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 03:08:35 +0000

I agree with ERNurse
In most cases, what the staff thinks of you and how they treat you really depends on how you treat them and how you act.
Act like a drama queen/king and be a jerk, you’re more likely to get eye rolls and a condescending attitude.
Treat us like humans and most of the time we’ll go out of our way to help you.
Can’t say that everyone working in an ED feels the same way, but from the places I’ve worked, this is by far the majority opinion.

By: AnERNurse

AnERNurse — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 13:55:11 +0000

Like most ER nurses, I’m friendly and pleasant to all my patients. In my head, it depends. People who seem desperately sad, and at a loss to do anything else about their pain make sad and make me want to work as hard as I can to help them find resources.
Then there are those that are dramatic, demanding attention, acting foolish. Of course, my nurse brain knows that everyone acts differently under stress and when in pain (physical and emotional), and I treat them as compassionately as the first group.
But in my head, I’m only human, ya know? The 2nd group is a lot harder to deal with emotionally. It takes a lot more work to feel compassionate. I like to think I’m good at it though. I genuinely like people and want to help them.

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 08:43:48 +0000

Is that a rhetorical “someone”, or do you know a guy that knows a guy?

By: KT

KT — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 23:09:35 +0000

Saw the cover of Reader’s Digest for this month: “50 Secrets Surgeons Won’t Tell You” and was reminded of your blog, ha.

Ever consider making a list of “Secrets ER physicians won’t tell you?”

By: tracy

tracy — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 15:56:33 +0000

i second Sue’s question.

Thank you, Sue and Dr. Whitecoat. i have some thoughts, but will keep them to myself.

By: Sue Denyhm

Sue Denyhm — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 09:04:57 +0000

Need some help to settle an argument. What do ED people really think of people who rock up to the emergency department to have self inflicted cuts stitched up?

Thanks

By: WhiteCoat

WhiteCoat — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 21:48:01 +0000

Wouldn’t it be great if every time that a discretionary prescription for narcotics was written under the threat of job loss, there was a chart entry saying something along the lines that “Neither this visit nor a prescription for narcotics appear to meet medical necessity guidelines, however according to a directive from Jim Dwyer, hospital CEO, emergency physicians are to consider proper medical care as being secondary to patient satisfaction.”

If you know of a doctor or NP/PA who has been either fired, who has had a decrease in pay, or who has had any other adverse action taken against them because of patient satisfaction issues, please contact me by e-mail. The sooner the better. I need to put you/them in touch with someone.