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- Apr 17, 2005
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I'd like to get some feedback. I was working trauma call last night at the hospital - I'm on Surgery, and had been working since 5am and didn't sleep very well the night before.
Anyhoo, it was a true trauma-fest. Two falls, two motorcycle accidents, a shooting - it just went on and on. By the time everyone was stable (about three in the morning) it was time to go do all the lacerations that we hadn't had time to mess with.
After doing a fair amount of sewing on my own, I was helping my senior with a guy who had multiple lacerations in his scalp - almost as if his scalp had been macerated from an impact. There was no way to get his scalp to quit bleeding - staples, sutures, anything we did it just kept bleeding. Of course, there was blood all over everywhere - on the bed, soaked 4x4s, etc. I was vacuuming up blood whenever I could. I noticed that the smell of old blood was kinda overwhelming - combined with the alcohol this kid had drunk - there was that sickly-sweet, musty odor of trauma - I'd been smelling it all night long. I've never been squeamish about blood or trauma.
All of a sudden, I started getting dizzy. Major league. I was a little scared I'd pass out. I excused myself, weaved my way down to the staff toilet, and threw-up several times. I was pretty woozy after that - white as a sheet, apparently. I went down to the call room and lay down for an hour - after that I was OK - rounded, ate a full breakfast.
Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I thought maybe I was getting sick - but I'm not sick now. The nurses thought it was hypoglycemia - but I'd had a decent dinner around 5:30pm and I'd grabbed one slice of pizza around 1am while running to the ER. To me, it just seemed like the smell of old blood was suddenly bothering me a lot.
Anybody have any ideas about what happened? Ever had a similar experience on an overnight call? I sure don't want it to ever happen again.
Anyhoo, it was a true trauma-fest. Two falls, two motorcycle accidents, a shooting - it just went on and on. By the time everyone was stable (about three in the morning) it was time to go do all the lacerations that we hadn't had time to mess with.
After doing a fair amount of sewing on my own, I was helping my senior with a guy who had multiple lacerations in his scalp - almost as if his scalp had been macerated from an impact. There was no way to get his scalp to quit bleeding - staples, sutures, anything we did it just kept bleeding. Of course, there was blood all over everywhere - on the bed, soaked 4x4s, etc. I was vacuuming up blood whenever I could. I noticed that the smell of old blood was kinda overwhelming - combined with the alcohol this kid had drunk - there was that sickly-sweet, musty odor of trauma - I'd been smelling it all night long. I've never been squeamish about blood or trauma.
All of a sudden, I started getting dizzy. Major league. I was a little scared I'd pass out. I excused myself, weaved my way down to the staff toilet, and threw-up several times. I was pretty woozy after that - white as a sheet, apparently. I went down to the call room and lay down for an hour - after that I was OK - rounded, ate a full breakfast.
Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I thought maybe I was getting sick - but I'm not sick now. The nurses thought it was hypoglycemia - but I'd had a decent dinner around 5:30pm and I'd grabbed one slice of pizza around 1am while running to the ER. To me, it just seemed like the smell of old blood was suddenly bothering me a lot.
Anybody have any ideas about what happened? Ever had a similar experience on an overnight call? I sure don't want it to ever happen again.
