My Emergency Room Assignment

Due to another low patient count in the ward I work in, it was my turn to float to another unit last Tuesday night. This time I was going to the Emergency Room, where the hospital opened a tiny room with two reclining chairs just for psych patients waiting to be medically evaluated and transferred. This was my assignment, to watch over those patients, check their possessions and valuables, and check their vital signs upon arrival and before they get transferred to the psych unit.

I arrived with three patients already waiting, two in the small room, and one on an ambulance gurney in restraints whom we moved to the ER gurney. She didn’t want to be there and was struggling the whole time until she was given a tranquilizer shot by the nurse, which made her mellow out soon enough.

One of the ladies in the small room had so many belongings that it filled several plastic bags in addition to her purse and backpack. Fortunately for me, the worker whom I relieved had already inventoried them. I pity the guy who has to inventory it again when this patient is transferred to the psych ward.

The other lady who just arrived was very familiar to me so I kinda knew what to expect from her. Aside from the clothes she was wearing, she didn’t have anything else, so that made it easy for me. The only thing about her was that she yawned a lot and it was a very loud yawn that if your tolerance level was low, you would have been irritated about it in short time. Good thing the other lady didn’t mind.

A male patient was brought in by the police after being evaluated by their psych team, another was brought in by ambulance because he was seen following a woman while wearing only his underwear and one shoe, and another was admitted due to being drunk and depressed but had to be hooked up to an EKG due to complaints of chest pain.

These patients were waiting in the ER to be medically cleared for transfer by a doctor. In this case, medical clearance involved a cursory exam by the doctor who asks the patient: do you have any cuts or bruises on your body?, are you in any pain?, do you have any medical complaints?, do you know what today’s date is? Plus, sticking a stethoscope on the chest area. Well, so much for a thorough medical exam. I am not a doctor, so he must know what he is doing.

Another duty was transporting a patient on a van from the ER to a unit at another building about a mile down the street from the main hospital. This involved escorting the patient with the van driver and if the patient was particularly belligerent or uncooperative, it would make for a difficult transfer. I lucked out again, nobody gave us any problems. The patient who was in restraints earlier was transferred within the same building. I ended up doing four transfers during the 12 hour shift.

During my break I visited the geropsych unit where the supervisor was hanging out with the other nurses and she told a story which happened awhile ago, about a new mother at the obstetrics ward wanting to give her newborn the name Lucifer to spite her own mother who didn’t agree with the pregnancy. The supervisor was able to convince the baby’s mother and father to do otherwise by explaining the future consequences to them. The supervisor said she wouldn’t have allowed the name to be put on the birth certificate. I hope they didn’t name the baby Damien (from The Omen) instead.

It was not the first time I was assigned to the ER, but it was the first time I had to stay there the whole shift because the psych patients just kept on coming all night. In total, I had to keep an eye on six patients, five who were transferred to the psych units while I was there. So that ends my pretty good night at the Emergency Room.