Tuesday, July 22, 2008

The eerieness of the ED


Prior to a trauma coming in, the patient is assigned a trauma name since usually they come in altered and cannot completely register. This expedites the process of getting labs, xrays, CT scans, etc. Usually they are just random nouns such as Wade, Ij or Taco, Iv, but lately it seems like the patient's findings are correlating nicely with their trauma name.

The first situation occurred last week: he was a 20 something year old male who was arrested that day due to reckless behavior---he was drugged out and drunk. He decided that instead of posting bail, he would run at full speed toward the nearest brick wall, head first. He had a positive loc (loss of consciousness) and was altered. He also had a very large goose-egg on his left frontal head. His trauma name? Unicorn, Ij.

Last night another 20 something year old male was getting out of his car at a friends house when a male jumped him and started hitting him repeatedly in the face. He came in complaining of jaw pain. When we looked into his mouth we noticed a positive step off in his teeth, suggestive of a mandible fracture. His trauma name? Enamel, Ij.

Coincidence? Or is someone playing a trick?? I will get to the bottom of it!!

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