So When Does This Become a Crisis?
I walked into the Emergency Department one hot morning a couple of weeks ago and found every last stretcher — twenty-five beds, including the two we try to reserve for…
torontoemerg
Flattery Will Get You Everywhere
It’s been a tough couple of weeks for Team TorontoEmerg. First, I’ve been working like a rented mule, and secondly, a colleague whom I trusted and respected sandbagged me with…
Hotocalypse
Hot enough for ya? For you non-metric types, that 38C is an even 100F. I think I speak for most of my fellow Canadians when I say, “WTF?” I suppose…
Get Me the Frickin’ Goat!
If only there was a magic goat. Part of an advertising campaign from the Nova Scotia Ministry of Health Promotion and Protection aimed at reducing harm from high risk behaviours.…
Triage
The world in four patients, plus interruptions. Who’s next? Come in. Do you have your Health Card? Take off your hoodie and sit down. What brings you in today? Where…
Three Strikes and You’re Out, and By Out, I Mean Dead
This story was plastered above the fold in yesterday’s print edition of the Toronto Star: Gleb Alfyorov thought he was going to a hospital for help. So did the judge…
Yep, Still Have A Pulse
My unintentional hiatus will have to continue for a few couple more days, anyway, so apologies to my regular readers and friends. My absence is for reasons I’d love to…
Happy Canada Day
And all that. No Cobourg frolic this year, unfortunately, just work, work, work The dearth of posts the past week is not for lack of trying — have several rattling…
Flash Mob Bares Breasts, Somewhere Prudes are Moaning
For a good cause, of course: A bold group of mothers gave a new meaning to the term ‘flashmob’ when they bared their breasts at a major shopping centre today…
Favourite Poems XL
For the fortieth poem in the series, something a little different. Okay, not seasonal, but what the hell. (The Simpsons’ classic version can be found here.) Filed under: Favourite Poems,…
Friday Night Flicks: The Mountain
I’ve seen this short by TSO Photography a few times now, and it hasn’t grown old yet. Filed under: Friday Night Flicks Tagged: short films
The Most Useless Form on the Planet
Imagine this: you’ve had the shift from hell, no beds, every other patient is moments away from seeing Jesus/Allah/Buddha and to top it off, the department is down three nurses,…
I’ve Been Selected for a Not-So-Clever Marketing Scheme
This blog has been named as one of the ”20 Best Blog for Nurses” by that august institution, Jacksonville University School of Nursing. My jaded, cynical, shrivelled heart tells me…
New Contract Beats Up on Ontario Nurses
On 3 June 2011, an arbitration panel handed down the new contract for the majority of Ontario hospital nurses. The panel was set up when negotiations between the Ontario Hospital…
When All Else Fails, Use a Cliché
Along with Ye Olde Mill By The Stream™ and Child Getting First Haircut™, Insect on Flower is one of the most beloved clichés in photography. But as Jethro, my photographical…
How to Clear Out a Waiting Room
A couple of weeks ago we had a spectacularly bad day, traumas, codes, STEMIs, septic shock, status asthmaticus, what have you, plus (of course) a department filled with the haunted…
Time for the Talk
A tried and true (if tedious) bait and switch routine to draw attention to a serious issue. Synchronicity is a weird and wonderful thing. Here I was talking about the…
Favourite Poems XXXIX
The story of how Coleridge came to write this famous poem is probably too well known to bear repeating (but nonetheless is found here, for example.) I have sometimes wondered…
Bad Nurse! Bad!
I guess my venting, raging post the other day offended and/or ticked some people off, or at least the use of the strong language did. No sooner had I posted…
Why I Garden
So I was away from this blog for a few days. Not intentionally, I hasten to add: but sometimes, it must be admitted, unintentional absences are the best. I was…