A Day In Emergency Department

Work started an hour earlier because I was scheduled to be in the emergency department for a day. I walked passed the entry of the emergency department where all the ambulances parked. It looked a bit quiet and truthfully, I was a bit disappointed. Fine... I admit that I was a bit mean because I wanted to have a chance to experience everything in just merely eight hours that I would be there.



After greeted by our emergency department pharmacist, we went for hand-over meeting in the emergency department where the night shift doctors and nurses hand over their patients to the next shift. It sounded exactly like what I watched in Grey's Anatomy. Doctor explained, '45 year old woman suffering from head trauma...bla bla bla...' Anyway... the meeting wasn't really that interesting. But too my surprise, it was a damn busy day. All the beds were filled up!! Weeee....

So... what kind of patients did I meet?

1. My morning started with knowing a patient who had a suicidal attempt by swallowing HALF a litre of hydrochloric acid. The whole emergency department was talking about how could she swallow so much of it. The smell of the hydrochloric acid is so damn pungent! When she entered the hospital, she was bleeding through every orifice of her body surface. Apparently, the whole floor was dripped with blood. I did not manage to see the patient. Sadly, I heard she passed away at 12 noon. =(

2. After learning this term god knows how many times, I finally see what seizures are in epileptic patients.

3. I heard of a man who was having alcohol withdrawal in the hand-over meeting. I passed by this bed where the guy was flushing and shivering. Wonder if he was the one the doctors were talking about?

4. Haha... I saw this typical patient screaming for pain killers and swearing, 'WHERE IS THE NURSE WITH MY PAIN KILLERS!!!!!'. No one paid attention to him. =P

5. Oh oh... there was this patient who was singing in his sleep!

6. I witnessed the most traumatised event at the end of the day.

My pharmacist: Have you guys seen resuscitation?
Me: No...
My pharmacist: Pop ur head in there...



And I saw the doctor standing above the patient pumping hardly on his chest trying to resuscitate him. It honestly did not look as good as what you see in tv. My heart was weaken when I witnessed that. I could hear every single strong pump. I was worried and shocked at the same time. All I wanted was for the patient to be okay... I could not manage to see the end result because I was shooed off.

Interesting day but I was facing too many deaths in day.

Appreciate life.

seizures: jerky movements that a person cannot control
orifice: any opening of a body
resuscitate: to bring back to life