Today I got to follow Dr. Best around for the day. Being a Sunday morning & afternoon, the ED was a bit slower than the previous shifts but I still got to experience a lot and had more time to talk to the doctors, residents, and PA student about their jobs, medical school, and more.
The day began with a meeting in the hallway including all the doctors and nurses, and then sign-out as usual. Dr. Best did rounds in the CEU (observation unit), including a patient he said came for the “Duke miracle,” which happens often, meaning someone comes from a more rural or smaller hospital thinking their inconclusive diagnosis or lack thereof is due to incompetency- but that’s just how medicine is sometimes.
One of the patients today was a familiar face who Dr. Best had seen for 15 years in the ED for alcohol and drug abuse. Today he came in for attempted overdose but was known for stealing and drinking the hand sanitizer outside each room in the ED because it is alcohol-based.
In resuscitation, there were multiple trauma patients. One was level 2, an older patient who fell while on blood thinners and broke 4 ribs. Nurses drew blood and stabilized his neck first. A level 3 patient was transferred from another hospital; he had been assaulted and had injuries to the head and face. A critically ill 92 year old was brought in by EMS for pneumonia, but her long list of medical history and problems made it more complicated. Later in the day EMS brought in someone with hypoxia likely brought on by drug use, as a PA student told me that opiods are respiratory repressors. The police actually had to come because illegal substances were found when getting the patient into his hospital gown.
Example of a chest x-ray showing pneumonia
https://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/courses/rad/cxr/pathology3chest.html
I’m glad you had a great experience with Dr. Best. He really lives up to his name!
He sure does!