Working in the Emergency Department, it’s odd that each day tends to have a theme- that is, the patients who come in tend to follow a pattern of similar complaints. Some days, it is STI’s, other days, it’s heart problems. The theme of the last few days in the hospital has been mental health and substance abuse.
The last day that I worked, there was a man that was found naked, lying in the street. He couldn’t even tell us his name. His drug and alcohol screens were all negative. There was the woman we Baker Acted, because she was working with the FBI on a child trafficking case, and some one had given her a delayed reaction drug six years ago, and now they had activated it remotely to silence her. Then there was the guy who came in with a blood alcohol level of 486.
There was a guy that came in with a knife. He looked like butterbean: Bald, 340 pounds, 6 foot 4 inches tall. He looked at you like he was trying decide how he was going to kill you. His first words to the triage nurse were, “Which one of you nurses think you can take this from me?” Two security guards and a rather large doctor tackled him. He got Ketamine and Versed to no effect. So then we held him down and gave him another 200 mg of Ketamine, followed by a dose of Rocuronium. After the intubation, he still required the maximum dose for 3 different sedatives to keep him down. Since sedatives lower the patient’s blood pressure, he also required Levophed.
Flu season is over- I haven’t seen a patient test positive for Flu in weeks. COVID seems to be having a bit of a surge. In the past two weeks, I have seen perhaps half a dozen patients who were positive for COVID. Symptoms are vague, but mild. Patients complain of stomach pain, sore throat, congestion, body aches, and other assorted mild complaints. Only one of them was running a fever. We tell them to drink fluids, take Tylenol or Motrin, and get lots of rest.
We are running far busier this summer than usual, averaging 300 patients or so per day. This is our slow season, when we typically see 200 or so per day. During the busier Flu and snow bird season, we usually have about 450 to 500 per day. Overall, we usually serve 140,000-170,000 patients per year. This year will likely surpass that.
10 Comments
Honk Honk · July 29, 2025 at 7:16 am
I would think that heat would be on the list?
It is 80 degrees at 6AM here with the air crackling from humidity.
Grumpy51 · July 29, 2025 at 9:16 am
So admin cut staff “because” but yall are seeing 50% patients….. gotta “love” admin
Divemedic · July 29, 2025 at 10:45 am
Thats the crazy part. They cut staff last year, right as the busy season began
TRX · July 29, 2025 at 8:30 pm
[sigh] Looks like this place has morphed into the same place you waved goodbye to.
Modern Day Jeremiah · July 29, 2025 at 10:33 am
Most COVID cases I see these days are the “Bee Gees” variant. Main symptom is a Night Fever, but most of them are Stayin’ Alive.
SoCoRuss · July 29, 2025 at 11:08 am
Just shows what little all the ” We MUST have more Services” do to fix issues. Open up the old mental hospitals and fill them up. As for druggies we do 2 rehabs for them if you fail then fuck you give them a hot shot and quit wasting money on them.
I have a multiple friends and family experience with drug use. It took a long time with emotional pain and real injuries to figure out there is a point you got to just say fuck it, they wont change so they aren’t worth the effort and cost. You want to die, then fine….
After the way your staff has been treated by hospital management,Good to hear you didn’t get involved with the hulk. As for the doctor, he really shouldn’t be tacking drugged out nutjobs that’s a good way to get dead and I bet the hospital wouldn’t pay for that because HE did something he shouldn’t have done.. Let the hospital pay for that or the staffs lawsuit for injury caused by lack of personnel.
BTW, you talk about the ER goings on, what type of area is your hospital in? Good or bad or middle road? Or is it just that your patients come from close in bad areas that you get stuck with?
SoCoRuss · July 29, 2025 at 11:10 am
BTW, thanks for the ER updates. I wait for them to see the goings on in hospitals. Since the media wont tell the truth about Illnesses in areas except the COVID latest and MOST deadly version will kill us all by Thursday…
Dan D. · July 29, 2025 at 11:59 am
You could have skimped on the Kryptonite and just done a walking blood bank transfer from the 486 guy to Butterbean!
Seriously though, these are my favorite posts to read. Thanks!
Dan D.
Polimath · July 29, 2025 at 12:35 pm
There is such a thing as binary poisons. The mark get half of the mixture, (harmless) and later on get the second half which finishes the job.
Danny · July 29, 2025 at 4:18 pm
The numbers of people in the last paragraph are staggering.
Many years ago I was acquainted with an ER nurse – beautiful woman BTW – she said the full moon was always “interesting” to work.