An Old Man’s Winter Night All out of doors looked darkly in at him Through the thin frost, almost in separate stars, That gathers on the pane in empty rooms. What kept his eyes from giving back the gaze Was the lamp tilted near them in his hand. What kept
Continue readingAuthor: torontoemerg
Those Emergency Blues: Friday Night Flicks: The Super List
A surprisingly creepy little film, if you have twelve minutes and thirty seconds to spare. Filed under: Friday Night Flicks Tagged: short films
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: A Small Rant from Your Friendly X-ray Tech
A note sent to me from my favourite MRT (Medical Radiation Technologist). A reminder too, that nurses aren’t the centre of the universe, even if we think we are. Some thoughts from an MRT. . . Now I know we aren’t perfect but I feel like a rant about portable
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: The Persecution of Amanda Trujillo
In the ugly, grey world of hospital balance sheets it’s almost a commonplace that physicians generate revenue while nurses represent a cost. Fancy procedures and sub-sub-specialties bring generous income streams, in terms of charging (and profiting) from the provision of a multitude of related services, such as nursing, while nursing
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Kung Hei Fat Choi
Some Chinese New Year fun. Filed under: Uncategorized
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Karma Sweet Karma
The latest instalment of Nurses Behaving Badly featured the night charge and the day charge (i.e. me) getting a status asthmaticus organized in Resus 1 a few minutes after shift change. It’s probably reasonable to wonder why the two Resus Room nurses weren’t attending (and attentive to) the situation, especially after we
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Nurse, Interrupted
A pretty interesting video from Beth Boynton RN on what I call status interrupticus, the incessant and often needless interruptions nurses deal with when performing duties requiring critical thinking and judgement. It’s fairly well known, for example, at among nurses anyway, that many if not most med errors are attributable to nurses
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Favourite Poems XLIV
To a Locomotive in Winter Thee for my recitative, Thee in the driving storm even as now, the snow, the winter-day declining, Thee in thy panoply, thy measur’d dual throbbing and thy beat convulsive, Thy black cylindric body, golden brass and silvery steel, Thy ponderous side-bars, parallel and connecting rods,
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Best of 2011
A little late for 2011 retrospectives, but, as I said, I was busy. First list: the most popular by hits. Second: my personal picks. 10 Most Popular Posts (many of which were actually posted in 2010) 1. Can We Stop the I’m-a-Male-Nurse-Who-Isn’t-Gay-Contrary-to-the-Stereotype Routine? (An oldie-but-a-goodie. By far and away the most popular
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Dying Alone, Continued
Thanks to commenter Pagan Chaplain (Twitter ~ web) for pointing out the No One Dies Alone program, where volunteers under nursing supervision support patients who would be otherwise alone at the end of life. The program was started by Sandra Clarke at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene, Oregon. She cared
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Cleaning Up Links
Speaking of the end of posting at Nurse XY, I was looking over my blogroll the other day and was surprised by the number of blogs moribund or otherwise defunct. I need to update. Any readers with nursing/HCP blogs or know of good blogs? Leave me a note in comments. Filed under:
Continue readingMeat to Barking Dogs
Cruising through Memeorandum this morning, this item caught my attention: Michelle Obama’s Birthday Restaurant Has Occupy-Themed Burger Menu. The restaurant of her birthday festivities features a “99% Patty Melt” on Wonder Bread for $9.99, and a “1% 8 oz Kobe burger” decorated with gold leaf. Because Michelle Obama drives righties insane
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: So Long, Robert
Not unnoticed by me is Robert Fenton’s likely last post at Nurse XY. This a real loss — Robert is a truly gifted writer, and always has something interesting and insightful to say. If you have a chance, head over and check out his stuff. Here’s hoping he changes his mind.
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: What Nursing Leadership Doesn’t Look Like
A small, belated Christmas tale on how not to manage an emergency department. But first a few preliminary points of information. First: in Ontario, front line nurses are generally forbidden from taking vacation over the Christmas holidays, usually from some point from the first or second week of December to
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Dying Alone
A few weeks ago I had a patient named Helen who died. I’m not talking about a dramatic code or trauma, with people running around shouting for IV access, but rather an elderly woman who was at the end of her natural life. Dying in the Emergency Department is not
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Making CPR Fun (and Funny)
Vinnie Jones shows us how to do hands off CPR using a previously arranged near-corpse. From the British Heart Foundation. And yes, we sometimes hum “Stayin’ Alive” during codes. Not loudly enough to wake the dead, of course. The point about deep, fast compressions is important: go big or go
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Back
More or less. Everyone who emailed me, thanks. I am quite well, if a little bruised. Therein lies a tale, you say — true enough, but one I’m not quite ready to tell, though I’m working on an article for a (non-nursing) publication about it. Everyone who sent me an
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Favourite Poems XLIII
Now Winter Nights Enlarge Now winter nights enlarge The number of their hours, And clouds their storms discharge Upon the airy towers. Let now the chimneys blaze, And cups o’erflow with wine; Let well-tuned words amaze With harmony divine. yellow waxen lights Shall wait on honey love, While youthful revels,
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Awesome
A few days ago, we had VSA come into the department. According to EMS, the patient had collapsed while grocery shopping down the road; CPR was started almost immediately by another shopper; EMS arrived and gave the usual ACLS drugs — epinephrine and atropine, as well as defribrillating him, but
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Got Mine. Got Yours?
The flu shot, that is. I got mine yesterday. And no, I did not get any flu-like symptoms. So get it over it, and go get the shot. Now. Especially if you’re a health care professional. What I wrote during the glory days of H1N1 two years ago still applies:
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