Adventure

I finally did my ER rotation and it was amazing. Obviously, I was a little bit nervous before going. I met up with Dustin (classmate), and we were sporting our EMT shirts and hospital pants, looking really cool and official - we were ready to save lives, sort of.

The triage nurse at the ambulance drop-off entrance gave us our first instruction: "NO hands-on, you're observing ONLY." Ok ok, easy. We found a couple of chairs and started hanging out. First few minutes of doing nothing were long.

But then - a stab wound victim was rushed in by EMTs. Dustin and I ran along with the doctors, EMTs and nurses to the trauma room where they cut off the victim's clothes, inserted intravenous lines into his arms and started examining the wounds. Two cuts in his back.

I observed, Dustin observed, neither one of us got nauseous. As things settled down with the stab-wound patient, Dustin and I went back to our chairs doing nothing.

And then - a 50-year old lady with a broken leg was rushed in. Again, Dustin and I ran along with the doctors, EMTs and nurses to the trauma room where they uncovered the site of the injury. The bone (tibia) was sticking out of her leg! It was an open wound fracture, just like in our textbook (compound fracture). I observed, Dustin observed, neither one of us got nauseous.

Lots of other things happened that I can tell over a few beers - the 20-year old girl with palpitations whose heart had to be stopped and then started again to obtain a regular rhythm, the drunk woman in her thirties who tried to escape from her room where she was supposed to rest, the guy with asthma who did not respond to six treatments with nebulizers.

What an experience. Observing rocks. And I'm so relieved that I was able to stomach it all, did not get dizzy or nauseous, who would have thought. I guess other people's blood is less scary than my own blood, huh?