rewatching the first episode of ER

[doctorFred]

did this today and it was pretty awesome, both from a nostalgic perspective and a specialty perspective. the show was aired back in 94, so i was barely a teenager when i saw it then. there's a whole new interesting level to things when you watch it as an actual doctor (particularly in EM, obviously.)

i didn't realize that all of the main characters were residents when the show started, and carter is a third year medical student (wearing a long white coat.) william h. macy is the only attending shown, and he's the division chair (not working clinically.. also, a surgeon.) otherwise, the residents are running the department on their own, including a mass casualty!

some other interesting points:
-- it's mentioned that they're working 36 hours on, 18 off, 90 hours a week, for 23 grand a year (!).
-- dr. ross (george clooney) is a general pediatrician working in the ER.
-- dr. lewis finds an opacity on a CXR and immediately diagnoses a guy with cancer and gives him 6 months to live (screw the pathologists/oncologists!)
-- mark interviews for a private practice position (doing what? they don't really clarify) paying a luxurious 120,000 year
-- they imply the average ER visit costs 180 bucks
-- for a suspected ectopic pregnancy in a stable patient in no distress, they schedule the patient for the OR before even doing an ultrasound
-- they sh_t on the ER radiologist constantly
-- benton, as a junior resident, takes a suspected AAA to the OR for an ex-lap with no attending (they call in the middle of the procedure to let benton know the chief resident is on his way.)
-- the residents sleep in empty patient rooms. carter, as a med student, sleeps in the ER waiting room.

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[EM_Rebuilder]

did this today and it was pretty awesome, both from a nostalgic perspective and a specialty perspective. the show was aired back in 94, so i was barely a teenager when i saw it then. there's a whole new interesting level to things when you watch it as an actual doctor (particularly in EM, obviously.)

i didn't realize that all of the main characters were residents when the show started, and carter is a third year medical student (wearing a long white coat.) william h. macy is the only attending shown, and he's the division chair (not working clinically.. also, a surgeon.) otherwise, the residents are running the department on their own, including a mass casualty!

some other interesting points:
-- it's mentioned that they're working 36 hours on, 18 off, 90 hours a week, for 23 grand a year (!).
-- dr. ross (george clooney) is a general pediatrician working in the ER.
-- dr. lewis finds an opacity on a CXR and immediately diagnoses a guy with cancer and gives him 6 months to live (screw the pathologists/oncologists!)
-- mark interviews for a private practice position (doing what? they don't really clarify) paying a luxurious 120,000 year
-- they imply the average ER visit costs 180 bucks
-- for a suspected ectopic pregnancy in a stable patient in no distress, they schedule the patient for the OR before even doing an ultrasound
-- they sh_t on the ER radiologist constantly
-- benton, as a junior resident, takes a suspected AAA to the OR for an ex-lap with no attending (they call in the middle of the procedure to let benton know the chief resident is on his way.)
-- the residents sleep in empty patient rooms. carter, as a med student, sleeps in the ER waiting room.

Where do you sleep? I slept in one of the big cribs in our Peds ED on a slow night....

 

[doctorFred]

Where do you sleep? I slept in one of the big cribs in our Peds ED on a slow night....

true.. i actually was more referring to carter being a med student on his ER rotation and sleeping in the waiting room. then again, the ER shifts they show in the first episode are 36 hours, so i guess you gotta sleep somewhere!

it is funny picturing a resident sleeping in a crib though.

 

[kajunman]

he sleeps in a crib at home as well.....with a bunch of weiner dogs...very weird.

this is from his house: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsRlFmUilss

 

[diphenyl]

God it makes me feel old when I watch that first season. It is interesting just to think from a technological perspective how far we've come. Those old rubber BVM's. The only cardiac monitors around doubled as defibrillators. All nurses designated scrub colors was usually some god awful peach/ pink or puke green. CT scans were in their infancy, something we take far for granted these days, same goes for ED ultrasounds. Plywood backboards .

My father's days in EMS seem even more archaic. Glass Iv bottles. no paramedics just EMT's. The big Cadillac ambulances too small for a provider and patient in the back at the same time so you would have the passenger crawl through the divider window to care for the patient. You needed doc's to start IV's. Lasix as the only anti hypertensive haha (which I still see some geriatric PMD's do as their sole antihypertensive med for all their pt's.)

 

[GeneralVeers]

We have a nice doctor's office with sofa to sleep on, but it is soooo far away from the patient care area. When not busy I sleep in a patient gurney near the work area.