stories from clinical experience

[darin]

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I got sprayed in the face with fluid from a lady's trachea today.

Happy Holidays.

 

[ambulancedriver]

there was a thread about this before. good stories in there.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=75452

 

[boomuntilnoon]

I volunteer in an HIV clinic and I have twice encountered patients with whom I had previous sexual relations... not only had they lied about their status to me (which is a felony), but I was completely powerless to take action against them since I had signed confidentiality papers in order to work at the facility.

Needless to say, this makes for great conversation during interviews and application essays.

 

[Street Philosopher]

uhh i shadowed a family practice doc and nearly fell asleep due to boredom. i hope this story inspires many people to become doctors. please let me know if this somehow triggers a life altering epiphany, especially if you decide to use it in your personal statement.

 

[DrSal]

Originally posted by boomuntilnoon
I volunteer in an HIV clinic and I have twice encountered a patients with whom I had previous sexual relations... not only had they lied about their status to me (which is a felony), but I was completely powerless to take action against them since I had signed confidentiality papers in order to work at the facility.

Needless to say, this makes for great conversation during interviews and application essays.

😱 ouch!

 

[ForensicPath]

Originally posted by darin
I got sprayed in the face with fluid from a lady's trachea today.

Happy Holidays.

During my first week at a medical examiner's office I was sprayed with all sorts of body fluids (decomp fluid being one example- and believe me, this smell does not come off easily). I have all sorts of stories from this experience.

Then there was my experiences in the emergency department. I saw my first schizophrenic episode, which was quite interesting. The woman was yelling that a man was following her, but she was transfering back and forth between english and spanish.

Then there was the boy who was brought in after being "degloved" in his special region.

Then there are the drug overdoses and addicts that always provide some good entertainment.

Then there are the women who did not realize they were pregnant until something "different" started popping out (I didn't even know it was possible to not know you were pregnant).

This doesn't even account for the people that I interacted with, who were just plain strange and always got me into some fun conversations.

I loved my experiences in the ED and the morgue.

 

[Supadupafly]

Working as a phlebotomist, I went to draw this fellow who was slipping in and out of consciousness. I'd drawn him before, and he was very calm. When he was 'out, the ICU resident said to just draw him anyway; won't notice a thing. Well, one night I get paged to go draw him and I pat him on the shoulder, let him know I'm going to draw blood, then comence. He was a very difficult draw. Veins would clapse whenever I aspirated; had to draw half a mil at a time.

After about 5 minutes of wait-aspirate-wait, I realize I'm trying to draw blood from a body. Then I turn around to see an intern and a nurse who'd been watching the whole time, barely able to contain the laughter... they'd called him just a few minutes before I arrived. I can't quite describe the feeling, not quite humiliation, not quite sadness, not quite frustration, but somewhere between.😕

 

[woolie]

My clinical observations are kind of sad. I see patients all day who have varying kinds of medical conditions and who are low-income and homeless.

What comes along with that is a whole package of 'challenging' psychological conditions, which make the work really hard sometimes.

We have people who have advanced cancers or other distressing conditions, but who will not follow up with the physicians we work with, and who are willing to help on a charity basis. A man came in the other day about a very minor thing, and as I talked with him he began to describe the classic signs of type II diabetes. Basically, he had been walking around with this for the last eight months (blood glucose of 500, constant urination, constant thirst, sudden and dramatic weight loss and hammer toes). I politely urged him to have this seen to immediately, but he didn't seem to understand the seriousness (I guess). I finally told him, that people DIE from the complications of untreated - and treated - diabetes, and he still was on the fence about getting help for it.

Very frustrating ... but I have to let it go. I see things like this all the time. Or patients become very angry and aggressive when we try and offer them free medical care or other forms of clinical care ... 😕 I don't really understant the psychological aspects very well, and it gets to be hard.

 

[HawkeyeBFP]

Three weeks ago I was working in the non-urgent care section of our ER when this guy came in who had attempted a self-circumcision.

No degloving, but his foreskin was being held on by two butterfly bandages, a regular Band-Aid and a gauze pad covered over with Plasti-skin. Moreover, he'd done this on Saturday but hadn't come in till Monday night.

The PA wouldn't ask the question I wanted the answer to: WHY?????

We sent him back over to sub-acute for IV antibiotics. I never did hear whether they patched him up or finished off the job...