df7 Subj : Re: Working in a (real) ER To : alt.tv.er From : KL Date : Mon Oct 03 2005 11:55:06 From Newsgroup: alt.tv.er on 10/3/2005 8:18 AM DawnK said the following: > "Sharon Three" wrote in message > news:QU90f.198$L24.134@lakeread01... > >>One or two big traumas a day is the norm, even in the big places and the >>mass casualty type things occur once in a blue moon, probably less than >>once yearly. On ER, we see several huge traumas a shift with at least >>several mass casualties a season. >> >>99% of what comes through the door in any ER, even in the inner city, is >>small stuff. Babies with runny noses and earaches, kids with sprains and >>needing stitches, people with chronic things that don't belong in the ER >>in the first place. If I had a nickel for every woman referred to me by >>an ER who went there because she had been having pelvic pain for months or >>years.... Most of the traumas are minor auto accidents with neck or back >>pain. There are also plenty of substance abusers looking for meds with >>vague complaints and 'allergies' to everything but vicodin. There are >>also plenty of elderly patients with pneumonia or heart failure. >> >>Big city ER's have become the primary caregiver for the uninsured and >>underinsured these days and most of the patients seen there (my estimate >>would be about 75%) either don't need to see anyone at all or would be >>better treated in a private physician's office but the patient can't or >>won't pay for that so they go to the ER where they can't be turned away >>even if they've been there a dozen times and never paid a dime. >> >>Doc Sharon >> > > > Yeah, the big stuff doesn't really happen that often. We get the same stuff > in the walk-in! What kills me is when someone has chest pain, calls their > doctor and they tell them to go to the walk-in, so while we are doing an EKG > and stuff like that, we have already called the ambulance to take them to > the ER! > > We get the drug-seekers, the chronic things that need a PMD, a guy who came > in with severe abd pain for 5 days! A lot of our stuff is the > self-diagnosed strep throat! Must be a special skill! Most of the time the > rapid strep is negative, too! > > Dawn > > Well....I gotta say, when I was a teenager I was able to self-diagnosis strep throat. I reckon it helped that I seemed to get it every 3 weeks. But I became so familiar with it, I could tell just by swallowing that it was strep. FINALLY talked them into taking my tonsils...doc said I had to have had strep 3 times in the last year...I said, heck I can do that in the last 2 months! LOL -- KL ______________________________00 _______________________0000000000 ______________________00___00___00 __________________________00____00 _________________________00_____00 ________________________00______00 ________________000____00_______00 ___________________00000000000000000 _____________________00_________00_000 ____________________00__________00 ____________________00__________00 ___________________00___________00 _______00________00_____________00 _________00______00______________00___ ___________000000_________________00000 ********ROLL TIDE********* ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---- . 0