Flight Life

Working only in the air medical setting limits the interaction I have these days with patients and their family members together. Every now and then, it all comes together and can be profoundly disturbing.

We were called to an outlying ED for trauma patient coming into the city. This particular location is notorious for trauma of the penetrating nature. Sure enough, the med report we get on the way is for a male in his thirties who had been both stabbed and struck by a vehicle. Now that's a bad day for you.

This ER is small; the one primary nurse is in the room with the patient (ED doc noticably MIA as is often the case) and gives us report. This gentleman had come into the ED with an entrance wound to the right side of his neck, left chest, left upper abdomen and right lower abdomen.

When asked what happened, the patient stated that he was struck by a car. Hmmm. Kudos to the nurse who told him to try again. Story number two- he was walking past some 'woods' when he was jumped by a stranger and stabbed. Ok, getting warmer with that one. Still, once a patient so blatantly lies about the circumstances, you have to assume there is more.

It just so happens that his brother and mother were in the hall. While getting the patient ready to go, I can see him making pleading eye gestures with his brother. Oh boy. My partner went to talk to them and see what more about the situation he can figure out.

It turns out this guy was at home and got into an altercation with his dad. Yes, that's right, his dad. Dad stabbed him 5 times. So, it's not bad enough that your father can be so enraged with you that he stabs you multiple times, but then you go and cover for him! What kind of family dynamic allows for an adult to be stabbed by their PARENT and then feel the desire to protect them from legal consequence? I don't understand. This still disturbs me when I think about it.

You know that little kids who are abused always protect mom and dad. May not seem right, but that is just how it is and almost always will be. Apparently, this drive to protect your parent no matter what does not end at adulthood.

It's heartbreaking, the power of a parent over the 'souls' of their children, regardless of age. This man may have been physically wounded, but it's the wounds to his psyche that were far more profound.

Now, I'm not the grammar police, but let's be honest . . . it doesn't matter what profession you are in- when you speak to your patients, hospital staff, etc. using double negatives and other poor grammer, you knock yourself down a few rungs on the intelligence ladder. You could have an IQ of 180, but once the word 'ain't' slips past your lips you really look (sound, I guess) like you aren't all that bright. I have no idea why this seems to be so common in our field. Well, I could certainly speculate, but it wouldn't be nice, so I'll stop myself there.

Why am I even mentioning this? I would have been less appalled if my partner the other day had been 'off' on her patient care as opposed to the seemingly harmless slip of what she said on the radio during a med report. Appalled. Absolutely appalled. To repeat what she said would give away my exact location, but this particular flight nurse is notorious for using local slang that is the equivalent of running ones nails down a chalkboard. Apparently radio reports are no exception. She's probably brilliant. I'll never know. I was too busy fantasizing about whacking her on the side of her helmet with the clipboard.

Wow, it's been a whole month since I've posted. Time is moving so fast anymore, I haven't decided if that's good or bad. It has been a relatively busy fall season at work. Definitely enough going on to keep me from catching any sleep!

 

This morning we got paged out at 10 minutes til 7:00 (am). Ok, I love to go on scene runs and all, but a woman needs her morning coffee. Oh, and a bagel would be nice, too. For some reason, nothing throws off my day more than getting paged out right off the bat. Seems silly, I'm sure, but everyone else here is in agreement. It's always nice to know I'm not the only goofy one around.

 

So, we had a re-hired employee working with us today. She just needed a couple of flight to get reoriented. For some reason, I felt like I was in a 3 ring circus on this flight, nothing seemed to happen smoothly. Nothing went terribly, by any measns, but it's always nice to have 'flow'. My partner is relatively new and had radio issues trying to contact the fire department on the ground. Then we had the wrong coordinates, so we had trouble even finding the accident site. Just one of the mornings. I'm still blaming it on lack of coffee for everyone.

 

Thank goodness this young guy was stable. It was a head-on crash on a major roadway in our area. The fire department landed us right on the road. It was a terrible landing zone. Wires and trees everywhere. Our pilots are incredible, so I have no worries there, but landing in a nice open field or lot always makes me more comfortable. Anyway, the crash was impressive . . . the guy (18 yrs old) was driving a subaru wagon. The entire front end was crumpled up to the patient compartment. Apparently, he was entrapped for a while between his seat and the steering wheel. He was awke for us and was just complaining of some chest pain (go figure). Overall, he was very stable.

 

Now, we're just sitting her waiting to be sent on a site visit to a local elementary school. That's always a little worriesome . . . it's hard to be swarmed by young kids. The  move faster than us, lol, and it can be tough to watch them at all times. They tend to like to swing off of parts that should never be swung upon.  So far the day is crawling by. Another few flights would be nice.