HBCE Blog Gallery: Tiny Shrink – Why am I Still Here?
Next in line is the redundantly-named Tiny Shrink and her blog, Why am I still Here?
Name of Blog
Why am I still here?
Website
http://tinyshrink.blogspot.com
Description of Blog
This is a blog where I describe things that happen in medical school, my rotations, and my life. It’s a (basically) anonymous blog, so I work to change patient details and to avoid using identifying information.
Describe yourself
I’m a fourth year medical student, and I’ve decided (after much debate) to go into psychiatry. I’ve been married for just over a year; my husband is an engineer. We have a dog and a cat, who occasionally make appearances on the blog.
Favorite Tags
Scut Work, Soapboxing, Nerd Humor, Mental Health
Why do you blog?
Partly, I blog to vent frustration with medicine and some of the horrible situations I find there. Partly, I blog to see my own words in print. Partly, I blog to share the funny or happy stories that I encounter.
Why should readers read your blog?
Because I said so?
Favorite Post:
It was bound to happen sooner or later…
Last night I was on call at [large non-county hospital] for trauma. My trauma beeper went off around 2315 saying “Code 3 LF ETA 15 16 yo F MVC extrication Int G3 S76 P164″, telling me that a code 3 (serious trauma) was arriving by helicopter in approximately 15 minutes; the patient was a 16 year old female who was in a car accident, had a prolonged extrication from her vehicle, was intubated, had a coma score of 3 (on par with a cadaver), with a low blood pressure and high pulse. Oh, boy. I happened to be in the OR at the time, watching the vascular surgeon repair a man’s bleeding arterial leg wound. The upper and lower level residents and myself rolled on the trauma.
I enjoyed the sound of my clogs on the hard floor, marching purposefully toward the ER. When I got there, I took off my white coat, put on a lead apron, topped it with a clean gown, put my stethoscope around my neck and got my trauma shears ready. I usually do this quickly, because the ETA’s on the beeper are horribly inaccurate. Once dressed and ready, I sat on a stretcher and shot the shit with the residents and nurses. Since this one was serious, 2 respiratory therapists were there with a ventilator; an ER doc was there with the ultrasound to perform the FAST (a quick check for abdominal bleeding); 2 X-ray techs were standing by with the X-ray machine and multiple blank films; several EMT students were hanging around, hoping to glean some experience; at least 3 nurses were in the room ready, with others waiting outside the shock room door. After all the fuss, we sat around for 10, maybe 15 minutes, just kicking our heels in the air, ready to go.
It’s almost an electric current in the air when the stretcher appears. Everyone leaped to the ready as the helicopter crew wheeled in the patient. They transferred her to the trauma stretcher and things started to fly. The helicopter crew was hollering out the history and vitals as the residents and attending physicians started the ABC’s: Airway, Breathing, Circulation, the primary survey. “Patient was questionably restrained, driver, her car was T-boned by a large truck/semi on the passenger side.” The RT’s began to establish a better airway and hooked her up to the ventilator, multitudes of lines and BP cuffs and EKG monitors and pulse oximeters were attached, a Foley was placed, IV’s and central lines were started, and an oral-gastric tube was passed to decompress her stomach. The ABC’s work like slightly sticky but well-worn machinery: everyone has a job, and they do it, but it’s noisy as hell, and there’s the occasional tripping over used syringes (not needles!) on the floor or the curse as yet another IV infiltrates. I mostly hung back after cutting off her panties, noting how thin she was, how small, how young, how she was wearing a pretty green bra with lace that we’d destroyed.
Reviews (by readers of the blog)
Peg said… I am a pre-med student and I love reading about what doctors and med-students have to say. I linked to your blog through someone else’s (can’t recall whose) and loved it so now I check it everyday.
Peggy
Anonymous said… Good post on hand washing and dirty white coats- germs in general. I picked up the blog post on the grand rounds list and sent the site on to infection control as an FYI
Medical Library
Black Mariah said… I also am a pre-med student who happened to find your blog through fellow medical bloggers and keep yours along with others as my daily reading. It’s great to read actual accounts of the experiences from those who regularly dedicate time into blogging about their lives inside and outside medicine.
Editors Comment:
It is great to have medical student bloggers. As any of those of us who went through the process can attest, medical school is a very trying and soul-searching time. You double your vocabulary and are changed from a student to a doctor. I always enjoy the differing perspectives on medical student blogs and this is certainly one to keep tabs on.
Thank you, Rob!
Med School is a great time for writing, I can’t wait to read more.
Great blog, will be back. The story of your first patient death was very well-written – you really had me there with you. Very sad too of course.