ED shift

I'm awake after napping over four hours after an ED shift last night, which was totally awesome. Not only did I have a fantastic resident, I was on the overnight shift with my one of my best friends, making it all the more fun.

Here's what I got to do/witness:
- Watch a trauma code (fortunately, the guy had some injuries but was stable) and suture his facial lacs (first time suturing from start to finish!)
- Witness a partial complex seizure and pull an intraosseous line. An "IO" line is a means of delivering fluids when an IV cannot be placed. It screws directly into the medial side of the tibial bone.
- Drain a perirectal abscess (ouch but the guy felt so much better afterward and was so grateful)
- Evaluate pt with abdominal pain who turned out to have gallstone pancreatitis
- Evaluate pt also with abdominal pain. Dx: rectus sheath hematoma requiring angioembolization
- Evaluate pt s/p MVA who had an impressive displaced thoracic spine fracture. Admitted to neurosurgery for stabilization in the morning
- Head down to the OR to catch the beginning of an emergency leg amputation for a pt with necrotizing fascitis. The pt was covered head to toe in purpura, on a thousand pressors, auto anti-coagulating, basically a mess...incredibly sad. The team kept the OR extremely warm to prevent hypothermia, as the pt could longer autoregulate his own temperature.

All in a night's work!

Last week, I saw a guy with Gardner's syndrome and two trauma codes, where I got to place a suture (just one haha) in one man's ear for a nasty ear laceration.

Novelty is exciting and I'm finally feeling that I'm getting to learn how to do stuff with my hands. Appropriate for a surgery rotation, I suppose.