DISCLAIMER: The events and characters in the following post are fictional. They are merely composites that represent many different fictional events and characters that of course never happened.

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Today was slow and steady for most of the day. Then 4:00pm came along, and the shit hit the fan.

Ambulance #1 had a post-seizure patient who was combative and very ill. Truckloads of meds, five people laying on him, intubation, and tons of nurse work, and he’ll be transferred out to a facility with a higher level of care.

Ambulance #2 and #3 came in at the same time shortly thereafter. The first was an old man with a laceration, who we pretty much ignored, because #3 had a BP of 40/25 and a pulse rate of 32. And she was mine.

One-on-one nursing care in two different rooms, a waiting room full of patients, and oh-by the way, that guy with a laceration also has a broken neck.

Jesus Christ. By the time I left (late), the cardiologist wanted to put a pacemaker in patient #3. In the ED. We talked him out of it, thank God. Patient #1 was almost ready for transfer, and #2 had a hard collar on.

Oh – and there were NO beds in the whole hospital, so we had to hold all the admits in the ED. Which is a bad thing to do – for the patients and the staff alike.

We call this kind of day a clusterfuck. All we can do is hope it’s not going to be as bad next shift we work.

Ugh.