Friday, July 17, 2009
This week was, in a word, weird. Two of the days we were totally slammed with patients and a third day was so light that we were able to get lower priority things done. (I only worked three days this week.)
We had two ear lavage's, which were nothing like the one I wrote about here, several EKGs and several chest x-Rays. The days just flew.
Today I drew a patient who dislikes needles in the worst way. Of course I didn't know this until after I poked him the first time and his pale white skin turned an odd shade of gray. The patient had nice veins but the first one rolled away from my needle so I had to poke him again. (It goes without saying that the patient was not happy about this but he didn't say anything.)
I gave him a few moments to breathe while I assembled my gear for a second try. Thank goodness I nailed it because I think he really may have passed out if I had to try a third time.
Note: I use the exam table extension, covered in table paper, as my work area. Doing so has three benefits: it's a large work surface, is the perfect height and, most importantly, if a patient becomes ill and passes out, they won't hit the floor.
We had two ear lavage's, which were nothing like the one I wrote about here, several EKGs and several chest x-Rays. The days just flew.
Today I drew a patient who dislikes needles in the worst way. Of course I didn't know this until after I poked him the first time and his pale white skin turned an odd shade of gray. The patient had nice veins but the first one rolled away from my needle so I had to poke him again. (It goes without saying that the patient was not happy about this but he didn't say anything.)
I gave him a few moments to breathe while I assembled my gear for a second try. Thank goodness I nailed it because I think he really may have passed out if I had to try a third time.
Note: I use the exam table extension, covered in table paper, as my work area. Doing so has three benefits: it's a large work surface, is the perfect height and, most importantly, if a patient becomes ill and passes out, they won't hit the floor.
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