That’s how many times I’ve had to call 911 at work. Yep, out of the 12 years I’ve worked as a medical office assistant, I’ve only had to call 911 about half a dozen times…perhaps even less. Approximately a month ago, I had a patient go into convulsions and stop breathing. That was probably the 2nd worst situation I’ve been in here. The worst was about a year or 2 ago when a patient collapsed due to a hemorrhage. Last week Wednesday, I had a patient with a heart attack.
Today, a patient came in bleeding profusely from his nose. He said that he’d been bleeding for 2 hours prior to walking into our office. Why he didn’t just go straight to the hospital, I will never know! He ended up making quite a bit of a mess...leaking a bit in our waiting room and all over our washroom sink and floor. I got him to lie down in one of the examination rooms and buzzed my boss to quickly take a look at him while I tried my best to clean up the mess. I was in the washroom on my hands and knees equipped with gloves, bleach and a sponge when my boss knocked on the door and said I needed to call the ambulance. The doctor couldn’t stop the bleeding no matter what he did so he thought it was best. “Here we go again.” I thought to myself, ripping off my gloves and running to the phone. This happened within the 1st hour of my work day! Once the paramedics took him away to the hospital, I felt drained! It didn’t help that I was getting woozy from the bleach fumes when I was cleaning!
Shit, I hope this doesn’t become a habit! It gets so crazy in situations like these and I don’t know how much it can take. It seems so long ago that I took a few days off on stress leave and it was at the beginning of this month!
Today, a patient came in bleeding profusely from his nose. He said that he’d been bleeding for 2 hours prior to walking into our office. Why he didn’t just go straight to the hospital, I will never know! He ended up making quite a bit of a mess...leaking a bit in our waiting room and all over our washroom sink and floor. I got him to lie down in one of the examination rooms and buzzed my boss to quickly take a look at him while I tried my best to clean up the mess. I was in the washroom on my hands and knees equipped with gloves, bleach and a sponge when my boss knocked on the door and said I needed to call the ambulance. The doctor couldn’t stop the bleeding no matter what he did so he thought it was best. “Here we go again.” I thought to myself, ripping off my gloves and running to the phone. This happened within the 1st hour of my work day! Once the paramedics took him away to the hospital, I felt drained! It didn’t help that I was getting woozy from the bleach fumes when I was cleaning!
Shit, I hope this doesn’t become a habit! It gets so crazy in situations like these and I don’t know how much it can take. It seems so long ago that I took a few days off on stress leave and it was at the beginning of this month!
all i can say is that you got more guts than most people. good for you and am really proud of you.
ReplyDeleteYou sure do have lots of guts, Vee. You do a great job, I know you do because I have been a patient for the last 11+ years...lol! I know first hand the doctors are lost without you. Keep up the great work! Loved the Halloween pics. They were BOO-TI-FUL! ~G~
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