My wife is an ER nurse and every time I go into her workplace I am astounded by how hard they work, and what they do, and I know I could never do it in a million years. But then my wife goes into other parts of the hospital and can't see why anyone would want to be midwife, ICU or a surgical nurse and finds that sort of thing mind numbingly boring.
My wife is an ED doctor. She's also an anaesthetist. She's seen some pretty bad shit over her time working. Yet her colleagues have seen worse.
I think it takes a special type of person who not only has the skills and training but also the raw courage to detach themselves from the emotional aspect of dealing with trauma and get on with saving a life. I call that 3 in the morning courage. It's tge ability to get up and deal with whatever has shaken you into brutal reality and cracks on as best you can.
I hear people whinging about doctors, nurse et al being overpaid but when it’s you or a loved one that needs help NOW, yeah... that gripe quietly vanishes.
who the frak whines about doctors and nurse's being overpaid? Is it wrong after John's piece above I am not feeling very kind towards people who complain about doctors and nurses.
My eldest daughter is a doctor. I couldn't believe the grind she endured for close to a decade to graduate as a general medicine physician. It would have broken me inside of a year. They earn their pay for sure. Even more so nurses, who are underpaid.
never could understand why they drive doctors and nurses like they do. I figure "do you want someone rested diagnosing and treating you, or do you want someone dead on their feet and liable to make mistakes".
Apologies for the length, and uh, content warning for death, tmi and so on.
A couple of years ago, I had a heart attack. It was my first. I did not recognise it as a heart attack (I was at Woolies and I am spectacularly stupid at the best of times). I went to the doctor a few days later because chest pain and he sent me to the ER as soon as my blood test for Troponin came back. I was off work that day and he called me to tell me to call an ambulance and go to the ER. I felt fine so I ignored him, called a mate and asked them to drop me off. In hindsight, this was really, really fucking stupid (see above comment). To be fair, my doctor just said, go to the ER. He did not say, you've had a major cardiac event, go to the ER. He just said I will send you a letter, show it to the ER Triage nurse. So Wednesday lunch time, I presented at the ER and was admitted immediately. Keep in mind that I felt fine. I had had a bit of chest pain the previous Friday night while shopping and that was it.
It was madness. Blokes having psychotic breaks on meth, screaming their lungs out and threatening to kill everyone being just one of the highlights. There were a couple of people who whinged incessantly because they were being waited on hand and foot, demanding food etc.
They bought in a bloke having a very different kind of heart attack and put him right next to me, and there was no room to move me. Watching someone get CPR is brutal. I am not sure that sound will ever leave me. They had the curtain back because it was a big team managing the resuscitation and I unfortunately got to see it all. When they wheeled the poor bugger in from the ambulance, the paramedic straddling his chest and pumping his heart for all he was worth was absolutely slathered in sweat.
It was pretty shocking. The bloke died, as they were not able to resuscitate him. I'd never seen anyone die before. But christ, they tried to save him. It was over 30 minutes of CPR, adrenaline shots and checking. It was run like nothing I've ever seen. They were all calm, everyone was doing their job. Absolute professionals.
Once it was over, I had almost every nurse come over and check on, asking if I was OK. I was. Shit like that never hits me at the time (thanks ADHD). I am fine from it.
I had three stents inserted into my LAD (aka the widowmaker) the next day in what turned out to be a very long angiogram/plasty due to bends in my arteries that were hard to negotiate. It was wicked cool but they did give me fentanyl because having that wire in my arm felt fucking weird and it did start to hurt because they had to use a thicker than normal wire or something. I also pissed literally non-stop for an entire day because they had to use loads and loads of dye. They gave me a tablet that they said would make me urinate and I feel like they severely undersold the effect.
Anyway, people who work in ERs are magical, especially the nurses. Pay them more money, so much more, especially the nurses. Universally lovely and kind and compassionate and caring in what can best be described as extremely trying circumstances. I never once felt unimportant or uncared for. I honestly felt like a nuisance, despite being assured by several cardiologists that I was in fact, very, very sick. They never treated me like one though.
So sorry to hear about your mother's seizure, and always welcome to hear about how some people when they make a choice, in the most bitter of environments choose kindness. Howthefuckever "post-grad degree in neuropsychology decades ago" what?
A few years ago, I spent a couple of days in the palliative ward of the Royal Brisbane Hospital watching my friend die. She was an extraordinary woman and the whole time the room was full of family and friends. My friend was on the morph, uncommunicative, with the death rattle breathing. The nurses could not have been better. Sensitive, attentive, caring, professional, maximizing the comfort of the patient and actively explaining stuff to us onlookers. Brilliant. Obviously, we weren’t the only room going thru this.
I walked thru the ward at one stage and some of the staff were standing around and having a good old laugh. I think over some reality show nonsense. I couldn’t have been more impressed. This is some deep seriously pro shit. To be faultlessly attentive and caring in a horrible situation while keeping enough emotional distance so you can have a laugh 15 metres away.
You need to be able to do that. The last thing you want when medical staff attend you or your beloved is to have them distraught about the previous patients. You need them to be steely eyed pros, while also having a soft and sensitive manner. I don’t know how they do it 5 shifts a week, but they are pros, warriors, made of the right stuff.
We really are in the worst timeline when bankers and tech bros get paid what they do, vs what we pay nurses and teachers.
My Dad was in the ICU after the surgery on the ruptured bowel that, 2 months later, led to him deciding he was done and exiting the mortal coil the next day, and I was in awe of the nurses who looked after hm. I think the only thing worse than being in the ICU would be being responsible for someone in the ICU, and they were relentlessly professional, cheerful and compassionate, all the while monitoring their assigned patients like hawks, while dealing with distressed family members trying to be brave (me, it was me). My mother is a retired RN and was in her element chatting to them about her hospital based training in ye olden days vs the high tech efficiency they were managing.
Hope your mum makes a swift recovery JB, that must have been terrifying for you both 🥺
My wife is an ER nurse and every time I go into her workplace I am astounded by how hard they work, and what they do, and I know I could never do it in a million years. But then my wife goes into other parts of the hospital and can't see why anyone would want to be midwife, ICU or a surgical nurse and finds that sort of thing mind numbingly boring.
Definitely requires a special breed of human.
So sorry to learn of your mother's episode 😞
My wife is an ED doctor. She's also an anaesthetist. She's seen some pretty bad shit over her time working. Yet her colleagues have seen worse.
I think it takes a special type of person who not only has the skills and training but also the raw courage to detach themselves from the emotional aspect of dealing with trauma and get on with saving a life. I call that 3 in the morning courage. It's tge ability to get up and deal with whatever has shaken you into brutal reality and cracks on as best you can.
I hear people whinging about doctors, nurse et al being overpaid but when it’s you or a loved one that needs help NOW, yeah... that gripe quietly vanishes.
Hope your mum recovers, JB.
who the frak whines about doctors and nurse's being overpaid? Is it wrong after John's piece above I am not feeling very kind towards people who complain about doctors and nurses.
My eldest daughter is a doctor. I couldn't believe the grind she endured for close to a decade to graduate as a general medicine physician. It would have broken me inside of a year. They earn their pay for sure. Even more so nurses, who are underpaid.
never could understand why they drive doctors and nurses like they do. I figure "do you want someone rested diagnosing and treating you, or do you want someone dead on their feet and liable to make mistakes".
Apologies for the length, and uh, content warning for death, tmi and so on.
A couple of years ago, I had a heart attack. It was my first. I did not recognise it as a heart attack (I was at Woolies and I am spectacularly stupid at the best of times). I went to the doctor a few days later because chest pain and he sent me to the ER as soon as my blood test for Troponin came back. I was off work that day and he called me to tell me to call an ambulance and go to the ER. I felt fine so I ignored him, called a mate and asked them to drop me off. In hindsight, this was really, really fucking stupid (see above comment). To be fair, my doctor just said, go to the ER. He did not say, you've had a major cardiac event, go to the ER. He just said I will send you a letter, show it to the ER Triage nurse. So Wednesday lunch time, I presented at the ER and was admitted immediately. Keep in mind that I felt fine. I had had a bit of chest pain the previous Friday night while shopping and that was it.
It was madness. Blokes having psychotic breaks on meth, screaming their lungs out and threatening to kill everyone being just one of the highlights. There were a couple of people who whinged incessantly because they were being waited on hand and foot, demanding food etc.
They bought in a bloke having a very different kind of heart attack and put him right next to me, and there was no room to move me. Watching someone get CPR is brutal. I am not sure that sound will ever leave me. They had the curtain back because it was a big team managing the resuscitation and I unfortunately got to see it all. When they wheeled the poor bugger in from the ambulance, the paramedic straddling his chest and pumping his heart for all he was worth was absolutely slathered in sweat.
It was pretty shocking. The bloke died, as they were not able to resuscitate him. I'd never seen anyone die before. But christ, they tried to save him. It was over 30 minutes of CPR, adrenaline shots and checking. It was run like nothing I've ever seen. They were all calm, everyone was doing their job. Absolute professionals.
Once it was over, I had almost every nurse come over and check on, asking if I was OK. I was. Shit like that never hits me at the time (thanks ADHD). I am fine from it.
I had three stents inserted into my LAD (aka the widowmaker) the next day in what turned out to be a very long angiogram/plasty due to bends in my arteries that were hard to negotiate. It was wicked cool but they did give me fentanyl because having that wire in my arm felt fucking weird and it did start to hurt because they had to use a thicker than normal wire or something. I also pissed literally non-stop for an entire day because they had to use loads and loads of dye. They gave me a tablet that they said would make me urinate and I feel like they severely undersold the effect.
Anyway, people who work in ERs are magical, especially the nurses. Pay them more money, so much more, especially the nurses. Universally lovely and kind and compassionate and caring in what can best be described as extremely trying circumstances. I never once felt unimportant or uncared for. I honestly felt like a nuisance, despite being assured by several cardiologists that I was in fact, very, very sick. They never treated me like one though.
I really hope your mum is OK.
So sorry to hear about your mother's seizure, and always welcome to hear about how some people when they make a choice, in the most bitter of environments choose kindness. Howthefuckever "post-grad degree in neuropsychology decades ago" what?
All the best JB
we can get by without doctors...
...but we will die without nurses
A few years ago, I spent a couple of days in the palliative ward of the Royal Brisbane Hospital watching my friend die. She was an extraordinary woman and the whole time the room was full of family and friends. My friend was on the morph, uncommunicative, with the death rattle breathing. The nurses could not have been better. Sensitive, attentive, caring, professional, maximizing the comfort of the patient and actively explaining stuff to us onlookers. Brilliant. Obviously, we weren’t the only room going thru this.
I walked thru the ward at one stage and some of the staff were standing around and having a good old laugh. I think over some reality show nonsense. I couldn’t have been more impressed. This is some deep seriously pro shit. To be faultlessly attentive and caring in a horrible situation while keeping enough emotional distance so you can have a laugh 15 metres away.
You need to be able to do that. The last thing you want when medical staff attend you or your beloved is to have them distraught about the previous patients. You need them to be steely eyed pros, while also having a soft and sensitive manner. I don’t know how they do it 5 shifts a week, but they are pros, warriors, made of the right stuff.
We really are in the worst timeline when bankers and tech bros get paid what they do, vs what we pay nurses and teachers.
My Dad was in the ICU after the surgery on the ruptured bowel that, 2 months later, led to him deciding he was done and exiting the mortal coil the next day, and I was in awe of the nurses who looked after hm. I think the only thing worse than being in the ICU would be being responsible for someone in the ICU, and they were relentlessly professional, cheerful and compassionate, all the while monitoring their assigned patients like hawks, while dealing with distressed family members trying to be brave (me, it was me). My mother is a retired RN and was in her element chatting to them about her hospital based training in ye olden days vs the high tech efficiency they were managing.
Hope your mum makes a swift recovery JB, that must have been terrifying for you both 🥺
My people. It changes you.