My first thought last night when I got my patient's blood all over my scrubs was, bugger, I am going to have to do my laundry tonight now, instead of tomorrow. No consideration of how awful it looked, or that I should really change, just having to do my laundry at midnight.
We had an inservice about patients who are ejected from motor vehicles and the educator showed a particularly horrific ejection video. I was saying to the person sitting next to me, "is that limp bizkit?", the music in the video was familiar. The educator says to me later, "I show something like that and your mind is immediately at what music is playing"?. Um, yeah.
My neighbours' daughter came over unannounced with her boyfriend the other (friday) night, she is 19, tearful and anxious and telling me about her belly pain and some urinary/lady partsl symptoms. I ask her, in front of her boyfriend (with her permission) whether she showers or goes to the toilet straight after sex, about her menstrual cycles, what pill she is on, when was her last smear, any smelly discharge and so on. I tell her on numerous occasions that I am NOT a doctor, which doesn't seem to sink in. Ultimately, 2 hours later after mum has arrived and basic vital signs have been taken, belly palpated, over the counter painkillers and urinary alkalisers administered, she decides to go to the doctor tomorrow and not go to the ED. Incidentally, suspected UTI confirmed the next day by GP. I remember saying to her, you have to ask yourself, is this an emergency?. The whole time she was here I was thinking, I just want to finish painting my bloody loungeroom and clean up! Is that wrong?
I often think about how my thought patterns and attitudes about things have changed over the years, my responses to situations. The funny thing is, I am particularly sensitive and emotional, I'm a crier. Maybe now I just know that I have seen enough to know that I will never see it all. What are your stories?.
