Week 8: More Testing and Driving Improvements

My schedule this week was very sporadic. We are at the point in the study now that we have to come in at weird hours to catch the people who do not work regular shifts. Being in the Emergency Department, you never know when it will be busy and when it won't be, and this week has been busy. The Fourth of July is the deadliest day on American roads, and although I had off on Wednesday, the Emergency department was still very busy on Thursday morning when I arrived.

Most days this week I have had to come in very early to catch people on the night shift. There is normally a lull in the action between 4:00 and 6:00 once all of the late night traumas end and before most people wake up in the morning and realize they need to go to the hospital. So, I have been here most days around 4:00. Thankfully I'm not working on this project alone, and Peter and I have been able to split the really early or really late shifts. It is now Saturday though, and I'm writing this with Starbucks sitting next to me after getting here at 4:00 this morning too.

All the early mornings have really paid off though. We have now tested about 40 people, and I hope to test another five before I leave today. On Tuesday I spent the morning with the new third year residents during Grand Rounds, and learned how to interpret difficult EKGs and heard an interesting presentation about traumatic eye injuries. Before, between and after presentations Peter and I were able to test the residents who participated in this study last year, and we tested 8 people in one day.

I mentioned in last week's post about how people stare at the mannequin that we use for CPR testing as we are pushing it down to the Emergency Department from the Simulation Center. Well, the stares haven't stopped, but my ability to drive the beds has improved. On the bed we use to transport the mannequin, there are three options: Brake, Neutral and Steer. The steer option doesn't always work on our bed, which was the cause of my bad driving. I almost have to stand on the pedal for it to stay down,  but it is so much easier to drive when it is steering correctly. I also don't get threatening looks anymore from other people as I struggle to push what looks like a patient down the hall way.