Positive Cell Phone Sign...

[Apollyon]

Yea, I pulled his boot off and saw his foot flop. Wasn’t sure if I should pick up his foot or my jaw off the floor first. He had a wooden spoon tied to the lateral aspect as a splint.

Being open, and with the foot flopping, it's fortunate that it didn't fall right off, right there!

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[Vandalia]

I had a patient bring in a dead bird in a bag once. Said it fell out of the sky and hit them then died. Wanted to show us. OK then

My first day of clinical medicine. First night of the first day as an MS-III. We happened to be in the ER (the correct term back then.)

A man came in claiming he was bit by a skunk. Not so bad. Clean it up, a rabies shot, easy.

Then his friend came in with a box. Both had apparently been sampling local distillates. He said, "I know you would want the skunk to test it for rabies. Here it is. Let me show you ...."

The slowing of time in these situations is real. All I remember is someone yelling, "Nooooo!" and everyone diving for cover in slow motion. Since I was the lowest in the hierarchy I was closest to the door and able to avoid the spray.

However, that turned out not to be a good thing, since I had to smell everyone else for the rest of the night.

It turns out being sprayed by a skunk has its upsides. None of the inpatients had any complaints. All of a sudden their pain or nausea was better when one of the team went to examine them. "I'm fine, I'm fine.... just LEAVE!"

However, as a general rule, nothing good has ever come from a patient or their friends/family bringing a box into the ED.

 

[Vandalia]

I claim credit for the OGF sign: The Old German Farmer Sign.

If an OGF surrenders to his wife's desire to take him to the ED, the changes of admission are > 85%.
If an OGF asks his wife to take him to the ED, the chances of ICU admission are > 90%.
If an OGF asks his wife to call 911 for him, the chances of a morgue admission in the next 72 hours are > 95%.

To the best of our knowledge there has never been a documented case of an OGF calling 911 for himself.

An OGF was one of my last patients, "67 yo male farmer, last name Steinkamp (changed obviously), asked his wife to call 911." He tried to trick our classification up though, he wasn't really trying to die, he only had a Type-A dissection.

 

[deleted547339]

However, as a general rule, nothing good has ever come from a patient or their friends/family bringing a box into the ED.

Truth.

 

[deleted547339]

Being open, and with the foot flopping, it's fortunate that it didn't fall right off, right there!

Yea. It’s funny how with things like this I can tell you exactly which room it happened in, too.

 

[RustedFox]

Yea. It’s funny how with things like this I can tell you exactly which room it happened in, too.

I was worried that I was the only one who remembered room numbers.

Phew.
Thanks.

 

[Apollyon]

I was worried that I was the only one who remembered room numbers.

Phew.
Thanks.

I'm the same way. It's how my mind maps it.

That was what also helped me in intro French in college - remembering on which side of the page the words were, to help remind me which was masculine and which was feminine.

Brain hacks, man!

 

[Ceke2002]

Out of curiosity, what's the general consensus, if there is one, if a patient's GP phones during a hospital visit - do you speak to them, or not?

The reason I ask is I was in this situation a few months back - in ED for query seizure, forgot to turn my phone off, GP phones just as the treating Doctor on duty is doing their assessment. Rather than just taking the offered phone from me & speaking to the Doctor on the other end of the line themselves, we ended up doing this rather farcical seeming back and forth message relay with me as the message relayer in the middle. What tests were going to be run? I don't know, let me ask..."What tests are going to be run?"...."Okay, they said *lists tests to be run*'..."Are they able to supply you with your regular prescriptions?...Hang on a sec..."Are you able to supply me with my regular prescriptions?" And back and forth, and back and forth. I just kept thinking, "Dudes, just talk to one another, why are you not talking to one another?

It seemed a little odd to me. Is this the norm, or is it one of those 'it depends' type scenarios?

 

[BoardingDoc]

I was worried that I was the only one who remembered room numbers.

Phew.
Thanks.

Nope. I remember room number + chief complaint. My brain can fill in the rest from there.
If you give me First + Last name, or even first+last name and chief complaint, I will likely have no idea who you're talking about.

 

[RustedFox]

Nope. I remember room number + chief complaint. My brain can fill in the rest from there.
If you give me First + Last name, or even first+last name and chief complaint, I will likely have no idea who you're talking about.

If you're younger than me, then I might be FutureYou.

Listen to me... Bet big on the Dodgers next year.

 

[WilcoWorld]

I was worried that I was the only one who remembered room numbers.

Phew.
Thanks.

Nope. I remember room number + chief complaint. My brain can fill in the rest from there.
If you give me First + Last name, or even first+last name and chief complaint, I will likely have no idea who you're talking about.

Yep, me too.

Q: "Remember the lady with weakness in room 23?" A: "Yeah! I was surprised when her troponin came back 0.38, her ECG was totally normal aside from an old RBBB."


Q: "Remember Henrietta Foghorn, the 63 year old mother of 7 who was the high school principle?" A: "Umm, was she in room 23?"

 

[AlmostAnMD]

Room # is the way I think most people remember stuff, at least epic stuff. All my coolest cases I know exactly what room they were in.

I only know a handful of patient names, and that's only because they abuse the ED on a near-daily basis. I even have dot phrases for their names that basically complete the chart since they come for the same BS each time. I Just go to them, say hi and print the AVS and populate the chart without ever making a change--just as their complaint and presentation never does.

 

[Tenk]

Room # is the way I think most people remember stuff, at least epic stuff. All my coolest cases I know exactly what room they were in.

I only know a handful of patient names, and that's only because they abuse the ED on a near-daily basis. I even have dot phrases for their names that basically complete the chart since they come for the same BS each time. I Just go to them, say hi and print the AVS and populate the chart without ever making a change--just as their complaint and presentation never does.

Remember that time you lost part of your soul to one of them?

 

[Goro]

I had a Mexican guy with an ankle injury when I was a resident. He injured it playing soccer the day before (maybe 2?). Flagged him for a hall bed. Took off his cowboy boot that went to midcalf and his tri-mal was open from prolonged skin tenting....he’d been walking on it???? And how did he put on the boots??

My eldest sister never, ever needed novocaine when having cavities worked on.

My mom used to say of her "no brain, no pain ".

 

[dchristismi]

Rooms totally. ESPECIALLY for the epic stuff.

I think the location scars the PTSD in a little deeper.
But the frequent fliers always by name. Only by room if they eventually code.