ER day one

Wow is the word of the day. I went through so many emotions in a simple 5 hour shift. For the first half hour I spent my time wandering hallways and remembering where everything was. The grand expanse of what would soon be my medical mansion was a maze to me. I felt out of place and unaware of what I should be doing. I didn't know any of the bustling bodies around me. I only knew who they were by profession. I talked with a few patients and remembered to clean the rooms promptly, even though I wasn't being paid for the position. I soon got into a sort of trance.
I met many people, probably some 20 names were run past me. still I only remember the 20 faces. Cassy Cathrine Tamara Billy McCarthy Crissty Ashely Amanda Justin Long...
My frist friend was Long. He showed me the website for aspiring scribes and where trauma was.
I ended up in medicine. An area of the ER I thought would be scary, but I was bored fast at the Fast Track. I felt more people needed my help and there was more real hospital work being done in this area. There was certainly a more diverse type of people seeking treatment. There were several homeless, a few low income, special ed, and old and frail. These people definitely deserved the compassion one could offer. I could only watch and wonder how much longer til they were passed off to another section. Their pains were real, and yet their needs so simple. To know someone was checking in with them, someone who clearly wasn't making any money.
I felt way too rushed to process any one experience fully. It seemed we were dealing with mere events, and not helping keep patients alive. A patient never seemed human to me, but like another specimine, another problem to solve, another puzzle piece to be passed on, another druggie after free drugs, another round of "let's-escape-the-law-suit" or another loss of money.
Healthcare amazes me in that it is the most precise methods of transfering a problematic case through many hands to the final place be it discharge or admittance into ICU. Many nurses keep the place running. Nurses run to and fro as if on a ship. PCTs mosey around for remedial tasks. I as the volunteer run around constantly to show good work ethic. Doctors and their scribes would float around on and off. I still didn't understand what took them so long to treat patients.
There was a lot of joking around. PCTs were the most good natured. Some nurses had surly attitudes. Others dutiful and to themselves. The charge nurses were always the most gregarious and understanding of my difficult position as a volunteer. Let's go back to that...
As a volunteer I ran my own ship. I had my own set of responsibilities if I should wish to take them on. I had to remember how to work so that I wouldn't tire myself out too soon. Reminding myself to look everyone in the eye and offer them all the same care. I reminded myself of the little child I once was. I decided not to be that child. I could not just shy away because I found something so disgusting. Someone throwing up. Someone engorged with blood. Low class who were probably diseased and dirty. Frail old men. Special ed persons. All sorts, require the same amount of care all of them.
The scribes spoke to me about paperwork and liabilities. Finding out the ways to get out of mal-practice suits, keeping up with diagnoses. It's all a fast paced world with dangers at every corner if one is not careful to notice. It really is less about treating patients, but as I said "practical office work." Unlike business it's very selfless. We risk losing money and do lose money in order to keep everyone healthy. It's amazing how much background and legal work is done to treat just one patient. I wish more people realized this.
I was proposed with another option. How to become a scribe. It can definitely give me a big foot in the door. But at the sacrifice of my own independence. I may have finally found something I can do to be immersed.
This is the rosey new side of healthcare. I have found it is beautiful because so many people come together over one cause. And these people are educated and quick witted.