Another Monday in Neuroramaville and Why Can't Hellboy Be My Pod Partner

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I try not to complain much about work on this blog, preferring to save it all for dinner hour and my stand -up routine with the family. Yesterday, though, was too much for a mere mortal to withstand.


Quote of the day: "Tell them to hurry up so we can visit him. We just drove down from Dayton."

Let me set the scene here.


Mr. Patient, 72, was transferred to us from an Outside Hospital (OSH) for a subdural hematoma he had suffered after a fall. Mr. P. also has a cardiac history and was on a blood thinner at home which, while helpful for the heart, is obviously not so fabulous for a brain bleed. The family had been with Mr P. at the OSH and had seen him shortly after he was admitted to our ICU.


The ICU team and 3 neurosurgeons were in the room, examining the patient, discussing whether they needed to take him to surgery right now to evacuate the blood and relieve pressure to his brain, and preparing him for impending surgery by placing an arterial line for blood pressure monitoring and a central line for intravenous access in this gentleman with little, tiny, fragile veins.


The door buzzer rings with visitors for Mr. P. We explain that he is being examined by the neurosurgeons and having procedures done. Next thing I hear is, "Tell them to hurry up so we can visit him. We just drove down from Dayton."

Well, yes, sir. I will get right on that. In fact I will go in there right now and tap my foot and my watch indicating to the docs to hurry up and time's a-wasting because you have been driving in a car for 30 minutes and don't want to wait. I am quite sure all of us in this world are anxious to have neurosurgeons rush through their examinations of us and hurry in their placement of sharp needle-like objects into our radial arteries and subclavian veins--especially when we have increased risk of bleeding-- so that you,Mr. Visitor from Dayton, do not have to wait one extra minute out of your extremely busy and very important day. I live to serve and Lord knows, we are a freakin' hotel here.

Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 15, 2008 at 10:28 AM

    Perhaps they did not undertand that what the doctors were doing we IMPORTANT! I had a hard week at work too and I know that people just simply do not think!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJuly 15, 2008 at 4:48 PM

    C'est vrais, Elizabeth!!

    Annie, I'd like to say that's Okay,cuz I think you're cute as a bug, but quite honestly I am finding that people are simply becoming ruder and more self-centered.
    I don't know in what universe it's become acceptable for a person to come to a hospital where a patient has been Life-Flighted, to an ICU, and demand that the doctors "hurry up" because you want to visit. If a person is unable to reason their way through that and simply go on back to the waiting room with the patient's family perhaps that person ought not be driving.
    There's a lot of folks wandering around with an enormous sense of entitlement. (And they all must know where I am at all times and follow me around...!)But tomorrow is another day. Hope your week goes better:>)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Di MackeyJuly 15, 2008 at 10:18 PM

    Flabbergasted ...
    And I guess you get to see it all in your work.

    I came here to catch up, reached the music you lifted from utteroutrage, turned it on, went and filled the coffee pot for an early morning coffee and came back to finish reading you.

    Good to catch up it was :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. CityKinJuly 16, 2008 at 8:11 AM

    It is amazing how self centered people can be.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJuly 16, 2008 at 6:11 PM

    I would have said brightly, "And as soon as the neurosurgeons are done with Mr. P, they'll be available to CHECK BETWEEN YOUR EARS and make sure your grey matter wasn't left behind in Dayton."

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownJuly 16, 2008 at 6:42 PM

    funny:>) We'll have to invent a mini CT scan the size of a radar gun and we can scan 'em at the door. Excellent idea, Ms. V

    ReplyDelete
  7. ElisabethJuly 17, 2008 at 5:56 PM

    V-Grrl - Oh boy, that comment of yours was absolutely precious!

    ReplyDelete

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Hey, thanks for your thoughts and your time:>)

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