Being back in the ED again, and being sincerely happy about it, definitely makes me a bit more confident about the whole EM/Peds thing again--cuz I have to say---there are days that I very much miss the OR. And being on the Peds side for the past few months got me thinking that maybe Peds was more my thing, but after one shift downstairs, I realized my heart is totally into the ED thing too.
I am currently doing my first, and only, away rotation. It is pretty interesting to see how the ED works here compared to back home. Firstly, for all lacerations: the nurses numb up and scrub them out for you. This lets me get other work done like calling surgery or pediatrics, or discharging someone. Secondly, I never have to look up a single number to page someone---I just tell one of the three secretaries that I need to talk to Dr. C and they take care of it---within ten minutes I'm getting paged overhead that he is on the line waiting. Lastly, people here are ridiculously friendly.
Last night I had a sick kiddo. In the ED the main purpose is to decide who is "sick" and who is "not sick." I have to say as a second year I thought everyone was considered "sick"---I mean why else would they have gone to the ED?? Now I think I finally have it down. So this kidddo had a fever of 104, hadn't eaten/drank anything all day, was tachycardic and tachypnic and just looked out of it. I was worried. So we started an IV, got cultures from her urine and blood and gave her Tylenol and Motrin. She perked up after the second bolus and I felt much better. Her urine came back with a UTI and we decided we were gonna send her home, but my attending really wanted me to talk to her pediatrician prior to sending her home. Of course the parents had no idea which Dr. F it was in town (there were 3 by the same last name) so I had to do some serious searching.
Around 10:30pm I was pretty sure that I narrowed it down to the correct doc. I was nervous to page this doc late at night just to do a "let you know" conversation, but it was important. So I dialed away. She responded about 10 minutes later and was amazing. She was completely appreciative that I informed her. I couldn't believe it. I hung up the phone with a smile on my face. And that's when I started thinking---I hadn't called a single consult so far that resulted in someone getting nasty or being rude---people here were happy to help out! What an amazing concept---we were all on the same side --trying to do best by the patient. And that's when I started thinking, maybe I could live here.
I am currently doing my first, and only, away rotation. It is pretty interesting to see how the ED works here compared to back home. Firstly, for all lacerations: the nurses numb up and scrub them out for you. This lets me get other work done like calling surgery or pediatrics, or discharging someone. Secondly, I never have to look up a single number to page someone---I just tell one of the three secretaries that I need to talk to Dr. C and they take care of it---within ten minutes I'm getting paged overhead that he is on the line waiting. Lastly, people here are ridiculously friendly.
Last night I had a sick kiddo. In the ED the main purpose is to decide who is "sick" and who is "not sick." I have to say as a second year I thought everyone was considered "sick"---I mean why else would they have gone to the ED?? Now I think I finally have it down. So this kidddo had a fever of 104, hadn't eaten/drank anything all day, was tachycardic and tachypnic and just looked out of it. I was worried. So we started an IV, got cultures from her urine and blood and gave her Tylenol and Motrin. She perked up after the second bolus and I felt much better. Her urine came back with a UTI and we decided we were gonna send her home, but my attending really wanted me to talk to her pediatrician prior to sending her home. Of course the parents had no idea which Dr. F it was in town (there were 3 by the same last name) so I had to do some serious searching.
Around 10:30pm I was pretty sure that I narrowed it down to the correct doc. I was nervous to page this doc late at night just to do a "let you know" conversation, but it was important. So I dialed away. She responded about 10 minutes later and was amazing. She was completely appreciative that I informed her. I couldn't believe it. I hung up the phone with a smile on my face. And that's when I started thinking---I hadn't called a single consult so far that resulted in someone getting nasty or being rude---people here were happy to help out! What an amazing concept---we were all on the same side --trying to do best by the patient. And that's when I started thinking, maybe I could live here.
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