CEMS

Yesterday I spent most of the day at Collegiate EMS (CEMS), the school EMT service. I'm on duty all tonight as well. It's a little funny when I'm onshift, as my EMT cert. expired last year in March, so I'm just an Observer until my EVOC class comes around soon...on the other hand, I've seen probably a greater VARIETY of calls than most of the other CEMS techs, as a great number of CEMS calls are (you guessed it) drunk college kids. 20 or more percent are called with the drunkenness being the proximate cause of the call (help help, my roommate wont wake up, help help, my roommate is puking, etc) and another 10-20 because they were drunk and did something like fall down a flight of stairs, slip on ice, punch somebody else, etc.

If I had ONE piece of advice to offer all the college kids on this campus, it would be this: STOP drinking LONG BEFORE YOU FEEL SICK. You can still get tipsy if you want, but for the love of all that is holy, being sick is NOT attractive, a good idea, or something you will be proud of in a few years.

Valerian

New night-before-clinical ritual: Chamomile/Valerian tea to knock me out faster so I get enough sleep.
1/2 cup in, and i'm already feeling the eyes get heavy. DO NOT USE when operating heavy machinery. Also, it can prolong bleeding times, so maybe not a good idea before surgery, or if you're on coumadin or heparin.

Wow....this stuff is GOOD!

Med-Surg

Long time, no post. I fail. So I've begun my second clinical rotation at Spiffy Urban Teaching Hospital, on the CCU/Telemetry floor. WHAT a difference from the sketchy nursing home! All the toys I missed are here, from blood pressure cuffs and pulse oximeters to blood glucose monitors. LOVE it. I don't think CCU is going to be my permanent home. I didn't get that "zing!" I feel when I walk into an ER, but I think this rotation is going to be a good one. We even get to go into the OR and observe, AND the cath. lab. Which is freaking sweet.
Only one patient so far, one that I will call "Pleasently Confused Lady". 88 or so years old, pretty frail, with every stereotypical old-person-malady in the book, from osteoarthritis to gout, to diabetes to osteoporosis. And she'd just had a new hip put in, even though she is SENILE. In the nicest way, of course, she'd pat your hand, call you sweetie, and grin at EVERYONE, but she couldn't follow even simple instructions, and has NO idea why her hip hurts so much. She even denied being in pain, while twisting in bed, moaning, and clutching her hip. We gave her morphine anyway, on the OFF chance that the pain scale wasn't precisely accurate for her. You know, since her heart rate would spike every time she moaned.
Tomorrow may be a snow day, which would be a mixed blessing- I wouldn't have to get up early, but I really do like the hospital.

I LOVE Spiffy Urban Medical Center! (SUMC)

Ok, long time no post, but also long time no classes. We oriented at Spiffy Urban Medical Center on Wednesday, and it was AWESOME. I never realised just how cool it is to be in a REAL hospital with code carts, and NURSES, and DOCTORS (in case you need them). My group will be on the telemetry/ CCU floor, and it looks like it's going to be freaking sweet.
I'm so psyched to go in for our first day next Wednesday, but also loving the fact that I've got a 4 day weekend to do necessary stuffs.
Also, i can do a rockin' job catheterizing dummies so far, but never tried on a human...hope my first victim...i mean patient...is UNconsious.