RANDOM THOUGHTS, INSTALLMENT NUMBER VIII

@The other day, my MA gave me the typical “thumbnail” report of my next patient. “(sick person of some sort”), (vitals), ….And, you know, he’s older.”

This particular soul was born TEN YEARS after I was!

@ROBOCALLS: I receive telephone calls, from time to time, from unknown numbers. Almost every one is from some computer dialed bullshit. My practice is to say “Hello”, and then begin to count ten seconds. If there is no human being on the line by then, according to my (it’s a robo call: I’m not particularly patient) timer, I hang up.

If there is some human on the line by then, they have, maybe, ten or fifteen seconds to convince me that I have any interest whatsoever in speaking to them.

And, if it’s one of those “we need to speak to you about your computer repair the other day” idiots, it depends: if I’m feeling froggy, I may stay on the line simply to trifle with them and waste their time. If I’m feeling curmudgeonly (which, to be honest, is most of the time), I hang up. In mid word.

OVERHEARD THE OTHER DAY:

Joe-Bob arrives, asking if he could get the work note written for Cletus. The clerk inquired after Cletus’ last name. Joe-Bob did not know Cletus’ last name.

She asked if Joe-Bob knew Cletus’ date of birth? “Nope.”

Cletus’ phone number?

“Nope.”

Cletus’ SSN?

(surprisingly/sarc) “Nope!”

Did Joe-Bob know the date of the visit which elicited Cletus’ work note?

(say it with me, now…) “Nope.”

She wrote down *OUR* phone number, and suggested that, once Joe-Bob rejoined Cletus, perhaps he, Joe-Bob, could invite him, Cletus, to telephone us, and at that point arrangements could be made.

@ Life Lesson: A lesson learned from hard experience: No matter how frequently you look at your watch, in the middle of an awful shift, it is still 3 o’clock!

Thinking About 9-11-01

Please, go to the link.

https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/islandora/object/ui%3AJan16duffy_37

go. view. weep.

A little bit more heartwarming content for the 20th anniversary of 9/11

Twenty years later, I weep.

Men. Duty. Honorable actions.

May we live up to their examples.

Questions Above My Pay Grade

A long, long time ago, back in Da City, I had left EMS, and was employed as a nursing house supervisor. In the course of my rounds, I stopped by ER. The staff chatted with me, revealed that things appeared to be under control, and they needed for nothing at that time.

One of the staff nurses drew me aside, and murmured, “Check out the ER doc that they sent us!”

I asked, of course, “Why?”, and was told, “Never mind! Once you chat with him, you will know!”

I approached him, introducing myself, and asked how his night was going. I was struck by the fact that he appeared to have several freckles about his face, each with a glint as of metal. Each, in fact, about the size of a pin head. I figured that was odd, concluded my conversation, and moved on.

I subsequently encountered one of the ER nurses in the cafeteria. “What did you make of Dr. Pins?”

“Couldn’t tell you. Never seen anything like it, before!”

So, a little later that night, I cruised through ER, again. (part of my “management by wandering around” strategy). The doc asked me if he could speak to me, in private. That was odd, but, sure, whatev’s.

So, back in the physician’s office, he began to describe a patient. I mean, as in how a resident (or a midlevel) would staff a patient with an attending. He wound up with his query: what did *I* (remember: the NURSING supervisor, with no provider chops whatsoever at this time) think that the patient ought to have done?

I tried not to stutter: I really, really did. I suspect that I failed, but I did manage to observe that other physicians had ordered this, or that test, and not uncommonly had discharged the patient with a prescription for this, that, or the other thing.

The following afternoon, my boss, the afternoon Nursing Director, and I had a chat. A lengthy chat. About Dr. Pins.

The Sunshine Rule, Revisited

As you may recall, my go-to principle is that everybody brings sunshine into my life. Sometimes, that is when a soul arrives……

So, TINS©, TIWFDASL© one sunny Saturday morning, and my very first child of Ghawd rolled his eyes when I asked, “do you have any allergies to medication?”, which is part of my Mark I-Mod Ø interview question set.

My inattentive friend responded, “Of course I have allergies! My nose has been stuffy and runny for a week!”

I tried it, once more. “Do you have any MEDICATION allergies?”

“I dunno”

(sigh) “Are you taking any prescription medication?”

“Yeah….”

“Can you tell me what medication you are taking?”

“Nope. Cannot remember.” (eye roll)

I concluded that further interview would waste my time and annoy this gentleman, further. And so, a surly exam followed.

COMMENTARY: Simply so you know, IDGAF what you are allergic to, nor do I care what medication you are/are not taking, despite your physician’s goading, instruction, entreaties, or hectoring.

I *DO* care, very much, that I do *NOT* prescribe prescribe a medication that will cause your immune system to turn you into a fireball. Similarly, I really, really do *NOT* want to prescribe a medication that, in concert with whatever the (expletive) you are, indeed, taking, will perhaps form a binary explosive in your bloodstream. Because you could not/would not tell me whatever else you are, indeed, taking.

So, to me, this sort of thing is kind of important. Please, try to keep up.

Above and Beyond

So, TINS©, TIWFDASL©…. Well, OK: REALLLLYYYYY!, I was holding up the counter, and awaiting my next patient, when one of the registrars came up and informed me, “Reltney, I’ve got this sick lady out in the drive up, and I really think you need to see her! Like, right now!”

To set the stage, my urgent care has (surprisingly!) urgent care patients, as well as folks who arrange to be tested for Da Rona. This latter group makes their appointment, drives up, telephones in to announce their arrival, and my registrar gowns up, registers them (now, THAT is a surprise, amirite?), and one of the MAs gowns up, strolls out, tests them, and hands a sheet of instructions (prominently featuring the admonition to quarantine for ten days, or until negative results are forthcoming) to the patient.

This particular soul had not made it past the whole “registrar registers them…” part. This particular registrar, let us call her Eloise, has been doing this for several months. She is one of those quiet, efficient, takes-care-of-business folks that make things in general, and our agency in particular, run. She is not a nurse, not an MA, may not have any “medical training” whatsoever.

Nonetheless, Eloise had appropriately identified that this patient, nominally here for coronavirus testing, was way, way, way sicker than (a) coronavirus testing was gonna help in a clinically relevant timeframe, as well as (b) way, way, way, way! too sick to be driving around. So, she came and got me.

I went to the patient, shortly afterwards followed by an MA who had overheard Eloise’s pronouncement. I was impressed by the fact that this woman reported chest pain, nausea. left sided neck pain, left sided jaw pain, as well as being unable to tell me her allergies, or medications, or medical history, and could not state the name of her boyfriend (whom she wanted called to retrieve her vehicle) as I shortly had determined that this nice lady was going to shortly be the recipient of over 50 years of pre hospital emergency care wisdom and experience, as well as diesel therapy. (ambulances nowadays generally run on diesel).

I told Eloise to get an ambulance, and the MA hopped in, to clear a room for this patient. Eloise evidently had delegated that task, as she returned promptly with a wheelchair, and I noted another MA on the phone to dispatch, as Mrs. Chestpain was wheeled in.

As I assessed this soul, engaging in conversation all the while, it struck me that her ability to track the conversation was deteriorating before my eyes. Not a good thing.

Soon EMS arrived, packed her up, and set about their own part of her care.

I called report to the local ED, explaining the above.

I then went in search of Eloise’s supervisor. I informed this worthy that, in my opinion, Eloise had saved this woman’s life. Had she not had her head in the encounter, had she not noted “chick don’t look right” (the fundamental item of nursing assessment), had she not sought me out and had she not compellingly made her case that this was a SICK person, well, Mrs. Chestpain might have driven off, to die from (her heart attack)(her stroke)(a collision from her impaired ability to navigate), or (all three).

For some reason, I had occasion to speak to my physician supervisor around that time. I repeated the foregoing story, as well as the foregoing analysis, to her.

“Well, you know, Reltney, you also saved her life!”

“Ma’am,” I responded, “I have dozens of years of schooling, decades of emergency and clinical experience to enable me to do that sort of thing: it’s kind of what you are paying me for! Eloise, on the other hand, has none of those things. You are congratulating me for doing my job. I’m applauding Eloise for thinking outside of the box, outside of her job description, and acting effectively to get this woman the help she desperately required. Thank you, but Eloise went above and beyond her job. She is what made everything else happen.”

As a side note, here’s what the preceding paragraph looks like, when your cat helps you:

“Ma’am,” I responded, “I have dozens of years of schooling, decades of emergency and clinical experience to enable me to do that sort of thing: it’s kind of what you are paying me for! Eloise, on the other hand, has none of those things. You are congratulating me for doing my job. I’m applauding Eloise for thinking outside of the box, outside of her job description, and acting effectively to get this woman the help she desperately required. Thank you, but Eloise went above and beyond her job. She is what made everything else happen.”pppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp

Thanks, Kitty. i do believe that I have this under control.

“Reading the Room”, or, Situational Awareness

So, TINS©, TIWFDASL© as an ED RN. At this point in time, the ED employing me (which was Middling Freestanding ED (MFSED) was an entertainment subsidiary of Enormous Hospital System With Delusions Of Grandeur (EHSWDoG).

My subsidiary hospital had the system’s psych ward upstairs, and therefore we appeared to be the psych intake for the three or four county area at which we were the center. So, this one night, an enormous dude, dressed in a three piece suit, perfectly buttoned etc, and BACKWARDS appeared. There were no police accompanying him (so I assume he was not a police psych hold). For some reason, Mr. backwards Suit had decided that he needed to go for a stroll.

As I became aware of the excitement, I noticed a cloud of nurses, as well as several security, negotiating with him to lay back down for assessment, and so forth. Somebody had given him a pen (for Ghawd only knows what reason), and he was appearing to become more excited as time passed. I noticed him only paying attention to the officers, with his (pen holding) hand behind him. He was standing in a doorway from one hallway to another, and I was down the one hall to his right. I strode past him, as if going down that hallway, and, as I passed, I snatched the pen from his hands, and continued down the hallway, as if that were the only reason for my passage.

Mr. Backwards Suit soon de-escalated, was assessed, and (unsurprisingly) admitted for psych evaluation. And, nobody else gave him a pen.

Random Thoughts, Part VII

EROTIC STORY SITES ON THE WEB, ARE *NOT* GOOD SOURCES FOR ADVICE ON HOW TO LIVE YOUR LIFE.

A young lady came in to the clinic, and related that her visit today was occasioned by the fact that “My girlfriend’s boyfriend told her that he had (GC/chlamydia/herpes/syphilis/aids/hepatitis/the fuglies), and I slept with him, too.”

I was unclear on the timeline. “*After* you knew?”

She was not. “Yep!”

Sigh. Another round of “test for everything”, and pray that it all comes back negative.

LET’S FOCUS ON THE IMMEDIATE PROBLEM, SHALL WE?

So, TINS© (This Is No Shit), TIWFDASL© (There I Was, Fighting Disease And Saving Lives), and Jim Bob wandered in. In the course of his registration, as well as his rooming, he revealed difficulties voiding. Indeed, my MA related that, once she had requested that he provide a sample of urine so that I might use it to determine what sort of “urine problem” he had, he responded that “I can’t pee”.

In my clinic, there is no catheterization capability. In my not inconsiderable emergency experience, both as RN as well as provider, such a soul requires a catheter, both in order to obtain the urine sample that will guide further care, as well as to decompress the ailing soul’s urinary bladder, as such a condition can become very uncomfortable. Which ignores potential damage to one’s kidneys.

I told my MA that Mr. Cannotpee would have to go to emergency, where, indeed, they had both the ability to place a catheter, as well as labs and imaging to determine what might have caused this problem.

She returned moments later, reporting that he had considered the prospect of a urinary catheter, and thought that he might be maybe able to produce a little bit of urine, perhaps.

His sample was inconsistent with inability to urinate. My appraisal was that IDGAF about this guy’s pharmacologic mis-steps. His stupid life choices that might be revealed by a urine drug screen, a screen that I had no interest in performing let alone contemplating the results of, were his kharma and would impact his life.

And, good luck with that!

LIGHTING UP MY LIFE

Another day, another Child of Ghawd. Soul reports a rash, kinda-sorta itchy, started here, now here, and here, and here. No exposure to suspect plants, no new cosmetics/detergents/soaps/shampoos.

There is a thing, known as a “Wood’s Lamp”, which produces light in the near-UV portion of the spectrum, accompanied by some visible violet (surprising enough!) light. Some itchy rashes will fluoresce (glow, generally a pale yellow-green, occasionally a pale, “coral” red/pink) under illumination from a Wood’s Lamp, and in such cases, it is a dermatophyte that is causing your rash. Treatment is an antifungal, such as clotrimazole (you may recognize the brand as “Lotrimin AF”), or selenium sulfide (the active ingredient in the anti dandruff shampoo, “Selsun Blue”).

This individual described trying multiple creams, lotions, and sprays, none of which effected any improvement. I attempted to elicit a duration of use, and was told, “It just didn’t work!”

Alrighty, then!

For those in the studio audience who do not already know this, dermatophytes are slow growing organisms, and therefore they find themselves in that portion of their growth and reproductive cycle wherein they are vulnerable to treatment, at relative long intervals. For this reason, treatment is relatively prolonged compared with, for example, a boil or other skin infection from a bacterium like staph or strep.

Sigh. I directed my patient to employ Selsun Blue as a body wash, and to continue it for a couple of weeks.

This person looked me dead in the eye, and asked, “Aren’t you going to do anything for my rash? Shouldn’t I use a cream or something?”

Sigh, again. Repeat, verbatim, the care instructions I finished providing, oh, like TWO FREAKING MINUTES AGO. In English. To a native English speaking patient.

“Do what you you think is best…”

A long, long time ago, in a little burg so very far away, I was married to The Plaintiff, and we were living in conjugal bliss.

No! Really!

I was (and am) an amateur radio operator (“a HAM”), and was relatively new to the hobby. So, this one time, I was perusing QST, which is the magazine published by the national association of amateur radio operators (said association known as the American Radio relay League, a name rich in meaning regarding the early days of radio). Therein I came across an advertisement for a new radio, which, after reflection, I desired.

Now, mat that time, The Plaintiff and I had an agreement, wherein larger expense items would be presented to The Spouse for approval. Therefore, I went to The Plaintiff, and showed her the ad.

“Look at this, Honey! It will do all this neat stuff, and I can use that neat stuff when I do public service events with the HAM club! Remember that one time we all went to that bike-athon, and I couldn’t hardly reach net control? Well, this radio will cross band repeat, so I could have parked the truck a little ways up the hill, reached the truck with my hand held radio, and then been repeated into net control!”

She took the magazine from me, perused the advertisement, and noted, “It even receives weather band! That would be handy, like that time we were camping, and the severe weather alert went out!”

Excitedly, I agreed. “Yep! And, since it is dual band, notice that it can receive VHF on both bands! So, I could monitor both fire department diapatch, as well as the local severe weather net!”

The Woman Who Would Become The Plaintiff looked up at me, and asked, “So, how much does a radio like this cost?”

I thumbed to the back, showing her another ad, from an amateur radio shop. “Look! Right around $700! And, I have nearly that much in my ‘toy fund’!”

She appeared thoughtful, for a moment. “So, it’s what, July, now?”

I was agreeable. “Yep!”

“Hmmm. Ya know, buying the kids’ school clothes will cost us around $600, you know.”

I was surprised by what appeared to be a tangent. “Uh-huh?”

She handed the magazine back to me. “Honey, you do what ever you think is best!”

Well, her head did not start to spin around, and spew out nasty green stuff, so, THAT was nice…..

“From the mouths of babies…”

Last week I worked with a resident. She had recently completed a rotation at The Big Pediatric Hospital, in the ED. One of her stories involved a child with a fracture. She related that, as she was showing this child her fracture on the x ray, the child exclaimed, “That’s the broken part, isn’t it?”

This stimulated me to recall a tale of my own (for, does not nearly EVERYTHING, stimulate me to recall a story?). Long ago and far away, I was working urgent care at a distant clinic. In this facility, my MA was an x ray tech, going to school for MRI. One day, a family brought in the matriarch, who had hip pain after a fall. Indeed, this elderly woman was pained by the movement elicited by the cracks in our flooring (our flooring was in very good repair!) Well, (let us call my MA…) “Ashley” determined that there was an x ray in this lady’s future, and figured that one movement onto the x ray table might be superior to a move into the room, an exam, another move into the x ray room, and THEN onto the table. Good call.

Ashley took only one image, before exiting the x ray room, at speed, and summoning me. “Reltney, you need to see this film”.

“Oh? Is it interesting?”

“Well, I believe you will be irate if you delay another minute before you see this film. I think that it will have a serious impact on your medical plan of care!”

Well, alrighty, then!

I had previously casually mentioned the concept of “the ophthalmologic fracture”. That is a break so obvious, so lacking in radiologic ambiguity, that should an ophthalmologist happen by, that physician would stop in his/her tracks, do a double take, and exclaim, “Hey! That looks broken!”

This lady had a ophthalmologic fracture of her hip. I had Ashley copy this image on a CD, and had my clerk summon EMS. I called The Local Trauma Center, and described the events to the attending physician. Once EMS had arrived, I invited them to view the film. They were, as well, impressed. She was backboarded, and transported to the hospital for further evaluation and care.

My physician colleague (remember her? She led me into this tale, after all!) nodded. I concluded, “You, doctor, have just introduced me to the concept of “the pediatric fracture: a break so obvious that a child can identify it”!