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3.12.2012

Stop it, Stop Killing Me

A couple of stressful weeks have passed.
Survived.
At times, barely.

Thought I was getting over it all
And then my intern drives the stake in a bit more, then twists it.

My neck of femur fracture lady from friday..
non-english speaking, complained of pain yesterday evening.
my intern wasn't sure where tho the patient pointed to her chest
Didn't think it was a heart attack but it crossed his mind. Did relevant tests.. BUT DIDNT !@$@$## chase up the results. Called up medical registrar for advice.
Repeated blood tests today. Troponins came back even more elevated than yesterday's

I asked 'em to do an ECG
Listened to the patient's chest.
Overloaded. Crackles galore. It was like a symphony made up of pre-schoolers in there.
Chest xrays showed fluid, possibly infection
THE ECG HAD INVERTED T-WAVES.. like the one from yesterday evening did. It wasn't picked up at that stage. I WAS ON-SITE AND HE KNEW I WAS WORKING. WHY ON EARTH WAS I NOT CALLED ABOUT MY PATIENT WHO MIGHT HAVE BEEN HAVING A HEART ATTACK AT THAT STAGE?! (you have no idea how pissed off I am at this whole thing. We're talking compromised patient care here..)

NOTHING was done. I got the shits and called up the med reg for today. She didn't even get called to see my patient. She was asked by HER resident to review this patient, because MY intern had conveyed the message through him. She didn't know how sick this lady was at all.

Now, my lady is getting worse. Trops are triple the amount from this afternoon. Requiring 8L oxygen to maintain reasonable sats. My colleague is on-site and on-duty until 9pm tonight and knows the events. WTF is my intern doing sending a text message to me at 6pm?! What exactly can I do for my patient off-site and why isn't he calling up the on-site registrar instead of texting?!

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhh.
He will not only be the death of me, but possibly of the patient and future ones if he keeps this up!

Now please help me find a way to tell him all this without blowing my top off as I tell him...