Once I had departed the employ of Da City, I worked as a RN in one of the little ERs dotting Da City. At that point in time, there were perhaps 18, maybe 20 hospitals big or small serving Da City. I worked at one of the middling sized ones, at that time around 300 beds.
Working midnights in ER, well, you commonly find yourself spending time with folks who make poor life choices. Those of you who have worked nights, or do presently, bear with me. Alcohol is a commonly abused drug. Shocker, right? Moreover, those who use alcohol to excess, commonly also do other, similarly, stupid shit. Said stupid shit, typified by the admonition, “Hold my beer, and watch this!”, places the stupid shit performer at significantly higher risk of ER visitation eliciting injury.
In retrospect, that all makes sense. Well, those of our neighbors who fail to contemplate consequences, readily foreseeable consequences at that, PROSPECTIVELY, well, those folks are why my children slept indoors, ate every day, and got suitable shoes regularly. Thanks for the business, my friend!
Later in the night/early in the morning, the flow of sick/injured tends to slack off. When all the stuff that needed doing, had been done, we got to thinking. From those deliberations arose the night shift game of The Ethanol Is Right!
The goal is to appraise a given patient, without any lab work reported as of the time of the prediction, and then write down your vote for the patient’s blood alcohol level. The vote closest to the lab reported value, but not over, “won”.
Musings of A Stretcher Ape 
Wife and I play the “Is Unconscious Person an OD (attempted suicide by not following directions/using street drugs) or is it a real Oops moment (like heart attack)? Game while watching those Live Rescue type shows. Weird how ODs have taken over the medical world, isn’t it?
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