Rotations: Day 1 Week 1!

I was in the ER all day today and didn't die! (Or kill anyone!!)


After dealing with our fire alarm at 11:45 pm (we wanted to die) my roommate and I got a few hours of sleep before saying goodbye the next morning around 5:30 am. I left for Charlton Methodist ER on the south side of Dallas.

I walked into the ER and waited to meet my preceptor while drinking coffee. It was quiet. I thought I would be a white cloud and it would be a slow day. When my preceptor walked in we had one patient. Not bad. I followed her in, watched her take a history, then listened carefully while she showed me how to enter patients into the EMR (electronic medical record) system.


Then she handed me a patient, "This one has a swollen lip, go see him."

Um….Ok….


"Hi, Sir, my name is Shannon and I'm a Physician Assistant student, tell me a little bit about why you're here today."


"Lo siento, senorita. No hablo Engles."


Shoot. My first real, honest to goodness patient, and I can't even speak to them in my own language. But somehow, we managed to communicate why he was there. I reported to my preceptor, only to find out HER patient only spoke Spanish too. Oh, wow. We were able to treat both patients, and by the time we were done we were FLOODED with patients.


So much for being a white cloud. Thankfully this wasn't my first time in the ER, even if it was my first rotation.


The rest of the day went by quickly. We saw a PRECIOUS little boy. He was having problems, but he smiled at me the second time I went in to see him, and let me listen to his lungs. Then he held the part of the stethoscope you put on the patient's chest (the diaphragm) up against his ear and laughed. He made my day J


We saw a total of 3 broken arms today. No other broken bones, just a lot of radiuses (radi ?) and ulnas. And a lot of crazy people that didn't really need to be in the ER at all. And a lot of really sick, get admitted to the hospital ASAP people.


And now it's 9:00 and I'm going to bed. Like a little kid. But I have to be up early again tomorrow…


The neat thing about working 7am-7pm is that I get to work before traffic, and leave before it too J