Any ER Doc knows what it means when a patient hobbles into the ER wearing sunglasses at night… right??? Well not in this case.
I work in a small community hospital ER. We get pretty busy at times but most nights are fairly slow compared to other hospitals around us. After 10 p.m. the main doors get locked and we usually close the waiting room. After this time we generally have enough open rooms to bring patients right back into the ER and triage them in a room. When things are slow we usually sit around the unit secretary's desk and chat. There is a monitor for the security cameras in the area and one of the feeds is to the main entrance. So when we sit there you can see patients walk up to the main entrance and ring the bell to be let in. We often find ourselves trying to guess what the patients chief complaint is or what there diagnosis is by watching come in and walk by the desk.
So the other night, we were fairly empty. Nearly the entire ER staff was standing around and chatting when on the camera we see a car drive into the ambulance bay. A man emerged from the drivers seat and opened the door to the front passengers seat and helps another person out of the car and we see them walk very slowly towards the door. As they come out of the shadows and into focus you can clearly see that there is a man and he his helping a woman walk into the ER. She is wearing very large mens aviator sunglasses. They stand out because: A: she is very petite and the glasses are very large on her face, and B: it is night time. We all agreed that she must have a migraine.
They ring the bell and get buzzed in. The triage nurse walks them by the desk to a room. Something is different about her though. She is walking very slowly. Her hands are held very low on her belly. I know that walk…. thats the PID shuffle! The patient and the man with her enter room #5 with the charge nurse and the door and curtain slide closed behind them. I return to my desk and stare blankly at the computer tracker waiting for her chart to pop up so I can read the triage note. Five minutes go by and sure enough the screen refreshes and it flashes the patients name. 28 years old, female. Chief Complaint: Pelvic Pain and vaginal discharge.
I walk into the room and introduce myself. She is still wearing her sunglasses. I go through the whole history. Pelvic pain, vaginal discharge, not pregnant. Clearly sounds like PID, complete with the frat boy jerk of a boyfriend sitting next to her. She says nothing about a headache. I asked her if she had a headache and she said no. Why does she have the damn glasses on??? Are her pupils dilated or pinned out? No they are not. Thats it… I have to know. I asked her: "whats with the glasses?" She giggles a little bit, and then laughs kind of angrily and looks at her boyfriend. "You tell him," she says to him emphatically. "No," he said sheepishly. I just keep staring at the patient. Finally she lets out a sigh and says that she will tell me. Ok… I'm waiting. She stares at me through her sunglasses. She then starts to pull them up off of her face very slowly and methodically. I'm expecting to see a black eye or something but I don't. She looks normal. She stares at me, flutters her eyelids a few times and says "see!" "No m'am I don't. Whats wrong." To which she replies: "my boyfriend says I have come F### me eyes… and I didn't want anyone here to think I wanted them to come F### me!" So I wore these sunglasses.
I work in a small community hospital ER. We get pretty busy at times but most nights are fairly slow compared to other hospitals around us. After 10 p.m. the main doors get locked and we usually close the waiting room. After this time we generally have enough open rooms to bring patients right back into the ER and triage them in a room. When things are slow we usually sit around the unit secretary's desk and chat. There is a monitor for the security cameras in the area and one of the feeds is to the main entrance. So when we sit there you can see patients walk up to the main entrance and ring the bell to be let in. We often find ourselves trying to guess what the patients chief complaint is or what there diagnosis is by watching come in and walk by the desk.
So the other night, we were fairly empty. Nearly the entire ER staff was standing around and chatting when on the camera we see a car drive into the ambulance bay. A man emerged from the drivers seat and opened the door to the front passengers seat and helps another person out of the car and we see them walk very slowly towards the door. As they come out of the shadows and into focus you can clearly see that there is a man and he his helping a woman walk into the ER. She is wearing very large mens aviator sunglasses. They stand out because: A: she is very petite and the glasses are very large on her face, and B: it is night time. We all agreed that she must have a migraine.
They ring the bell and get buzzed in. The triage nurse walks them by the desk to a room. Something is different about her though. She is walking very slowly. Her hands are held very low on her belly. I know that walk…. thats the PID shuffle! The patient and the man with her enter room #5 with the charge nurse and the door and curtain slide closed behind them. I return to my desk and stare blankly at the computer tracker waiting for her chart to pop up so I can read the triage note. Five minutes go by and sure enough the screen refreshes and it flashes the patients name. 28 years old, female. Chief Complaint: Pelvic Pain and vaginal discharge.
I walk into the room and introduce myself. She is still wearing her sunglasses. I go through the whole history. Pelvic pain, vaginal discharge, not pregnant. Clearly sounds like PID, complete with the frat boy jerk of a boyfriend sitting next to her. She says nothing about a headache. I asked her if she had a headache and she said no. Why does she have the damn glasses on??? Are her pupils dilated or pinned out? No they are not. Thats it… I have to know. I asked her: "whats with the glasses?" She giggles a little bit, and then laughs kind of angrily and looks at her boyfriend. "You tell him," she says to him emphatically. "No," he said sheepishly. I just keep staring at the patient. Finally she lets out a sigh and says that she will tell me. Ok… I'm waiting. She stares at me through her sunglasses. She then starts to pull them up off of her face very slowly and methodically. I'm expecting to see a black eye or something but I don't. She looks normal. She stares at me, flutters her eyelids a few times and says "see!" "No m'am I don't. Whats wrong." To which she replies: "my boyfriend says I have come F### me eyes… and I didn't want anyone here to think I wanted them to come F### me!" So I wore these sunglasses.
