A&E: Day Three

Today has been the best(and most exhausting) day in my two years of training. I was working on resus. I lost count of how many chest pain patients we saw. We also had a few stroke patients. Normally my hospital thrombolyses(injects an agent to break down clots) about eight people a month. Today we did this to six patients. They have to meet a very specific criteria to be eligable. It was all very exciting. While we didnt have any actual arrests in resus all of our patients were very ill. We also had two patients with very impressive breaks (one elbow, one wrist) who were sedated and had their breaks manipulated (pulled into a more stable position and cast) both of these patients were admitted as they would require surgery.

Something that strikes me as very different here is that the doctors actually get stuck in with general nursing duties, a doctor helped me transfer a patient to the ward. She also later on helped me roll a patient so I could get a bed pan under her. This would never happen on the wards. The nurses in A&E are all so laid back and relaxed, someone could walk through the doors in flames and they would probably yawn before putting the flames out. There is no such thing as a rush in A&E. I like this approach, calm and sure.