Words I Want to Avoid as a Physician: Focal

Medical jargon drives me crazy sometimes. It makes sense to use with other health professionals who will know what you’re talking about. It facilitates communication in certain situations. With patients though, it seems to just get you in trouble, or make you look like a fool.
A focal neurologic deficit as I understand [...]

Great ER Quotes

What follows is a number of quotes heard while working in the ER that I have found entertaining/thought-provoking. Enjoy!
“You don’t even understand graham crackers.”- Psych patient. No, I don’t.

“They just need to go home and be sick at home,” exasperated physician in the pediatric ER.
“I shot a guys genitals off for raping my sister.” Eesh.
“No [...]

Know Who You’re Talking To

A while back I was working with a physician and we had just seen a psychiatric patient. Someone had pointed out to me how it was dumb to have the psych rooms so close the pediatric side of the Emergency Department. I decided to bring this up with the physician, in hopes to stimulate some [...]

How Not to Talk with a Doctor

While I’m Scribing, it is key for me to understand exactly why the patient is in the ER and provide an accurate history describing their illness. This is often difficult as patients are often terrible providing a coherent history.
Thus leading to this post by Ten out of Ten, outlining many different types of patients and [...]

A Great Compliment

A few days ago we received evaluations from doctors we have worked with. Most of the ER Scribes on our team are new this year and have worked for about 6-7 months, and this was the first time we received any feedback since training.
Here is what one of the doctors wrote on my eval:
“One of [...]

My first day as an ER Scribe

I was excited. The ER Scribe position is a dream job for a pre med student. When I first researched the position, I could hardly believe it. You mean you get to follow around ER doctors, take notes for them, keep track of lab results and xrays and cat scans, and you get paid for [...]

Do you watch House? Do you know what Propofol is?

Yes, and yes!
My position as a an ER Scribe has vastly increased my medical vocabulary. I can name (and spell!) countless medications, and I generally know what they do.
This hasn’t proven especially useful outside my work until this week when I was watching the show “House”.
Here’s the situation: a guy is holding House and a [...]

Battling Cynicism in the ER

"Ten out of ten? Really? Is this really the worst pain you could possibly imagine?"
"Wow, this person has been in the ER 15 times in the last three months. You know what that means."
"Where are the normal people?"
These are just a sampling of the kinds of thoughts I’ve been having lately during my job [...]

What is Life in the ER Really Like?

I’ve worked as an ER scribe for a little over two months. I’m often asked, “How’s the job going?” or “What’s it like in the ER?” I usually rattle off an interesting story, or talk about how difficult and stressful the job can be at times (it is getting easier though).
But no matter what I [...]

Numb in the ER

I mentioned to a friend the feeling of numbness that develops while working in the ER. It hasn’t always been present for me, but often I have been so overwhelmed by what was going on around me, that I felt completely numb. The nurses and doctors seem numb as well, but it’s not because they [...]