Trauma: Week Three

Hard to believe that I'm already finishing up the third week of my five week tour of duty at Charity Trauma. Like all things, once you get acclimated to something, it's no longer an issue. Similar to diving into a cold swimming pool. More observations from the past week:

+ I never ceased to be amazed by seeing people lounging around outside the hospital in their wheelchairs, smoking cigarettes through their tracheostomies, and then wheeling themselves back to their rooms.

+ Nothing is more frustrating (and mind-boggling) than a patient that comes to see you in clinic but has no idea why they're there. I've been flirting with the idea of kicking them out of my clinic if they become belligerent and spout out: "I don't know! You're the doctor, figure it out!" or, "Read my chart!" and point to a 3 inch thick chart.

+ The nurses at Charity, who were quite territorial and hostile to my presence, have since become quite accomodating and, much to my amazement, willing to help me do even minor things. I'm sure there's some vague similarity here between my experience at Charity compared to Jane Goodall's experience with gorillas, but I'm too tired to make a clear connection and provide insight.