<p>So, I'm a junior in HS and I volunteer in the emergency department at a local hospital (level II trauma center).</p>
<p>things I do:
restock IV carts
restock blanket warmers
restock cabinets in patient rooms
turn over/clean beds
work the ER front desk (give out paperwork, fill out paperwork, get nurses, receive urine samples, get blankets/water/cold packs, deal with anxious patients)
transport patients to family birthing center
help visitors reach their destination
do random stuff/errands/chores
watch cool stuff</p>
<p>Saturday night alone (mar 24th) I saw three trauma victims: two stabbing victims, both covered in blood, and a motorcycle accident guy. They all came in on ambulances in succession, and I think all turned out OK. I watched one of the stabbed guys get stitches from the trauma surgeon on a huge arm wound.<br>
I also saw a young girl who had been bitten by a dog. Her bottom lip was completely split open, so I got to see that sewn up. It didn't look too bad after they were done.
Quote of the night: woman in wheelchair describing her symptoms (chest pain and trouble breathing will get anyone seen by the nurse immediately)- "I'm having pain in my chest, it's hard to breathe; oh, and I have cancer." She was undergoing chemo.</p>
<p>Anyways, I hope this interested you in some way. I have plenty more stories to tell. I'm open to any questions/comments.</p>
<p>that sounds like the coolest volunteering job ever</p>
<p>That sounds like a really interesting volunteering experience.</p>
<p>Time for an update, although I doubt anyone cares:</p>
<p>Sunday night wasn't too exciting, even though the ER kept having people come in. The coolest thing I saw was a 19 year old girl who had taken 40 Tylenol. She came in, had her mom (?) fill out the form, and just sat on the floor. I always want to ask these people about what exactly happened, but that's probably not the best idea. Later I got to talk to a doc who calculated the dosage and explained how he was going to treat her.
Funniest part of the night: one of the techs complained how he had to do a splint on a guy who had "sh** his pants." The tech offered to let him clean himself up first, but twice the guy refused. He had lots of fun with that one.</p>
<p>So let's return to a classic shift:</p>
<p>I saw a weird machine inside a patient's room, so when the doctor came out I asked him what he was doing. He invited me in to watch, which was really cool. I got to watch him stick a tube/camera down a lady's throat (upper endoscopy) in order to remove a piece of steak stuck in her throat. I found it funny that the doctor and nurses were actually discussing the steak's restaurant (Daphne's, FYI). It was really interesting for me, but not so pleasant for the patient.</p>
<p>Later a guy came in on an ambulance and was taken into a room. I just wandered in and sat down, listening to the paramedic's story. The guy himself said that he had been driving around, and a car followed him to a friend's house. Then he was beaten up randomly by 6-7 guys with baseball bats. Luckily he wasn't hurt badly at all. </p>
<p>Then there was a guy who dropped a jack on his toenail, which now was gone. I watched the bloody toe get stitched up. </p>
<p>Finally, some hispanic college guys came in. One of them had fallen on a fireplace at a house party and cut his hand. It was hilarious how he was pretty big but was quite scared of the anesthetic needle. His friends weren't helping either. Their biggest concern was the "Captain Mo" he had been carrying when he tripped. Then the guys invited me to party with them.</p>
<p>Funny moment: an older man and a teen came in and both wrote down their complaint was something like "bruised testicles." I just had to hear this explanation. Apparently a mentally ill girl had kicked her dad and brother in the testicles when they were transporting her somewhere she didn't want to go.</p>
<p>I appreciate any feedback.</p>
<p>OK, Friday and Saturday night:</p>
<p>I walk in and see this 40ish white woman with two black eyes. She's arguing with a nurse about wanting to see her doctor. She has the drug prescription forms in her hand. Maybe 15 minutes later a tech points her out to me, saying that her pimp (black guy standing a few feet away) beat her up. I wasn't sure if he was serious or not. Much later, I'm shadowing an ER doc, and he talks about how she wanted 150 Vicodin. I guess he was her pimp after all.</p>
<p>The aforementioned ER doc is hilarious and odd in his own way. He'll read the charts in a lispy gay voice and call patients "crazy people." We walked out of a patient's room, and he goes "the two of them combined would be lucky to have an IQ over 100."</p>
<p>Next day, a guy got brought in by the police. He had been tasered, so it was fun to watch three police officers try to wrestle him onto a bed. A few doctors came over just to see the hooks that were still in him. They were fascinated by how the taser worked, but the prisoner was not amused. They yanked the hooks out of him, and he was off to jail.</p>
<p>These two days I got to see a lumbar puncture, draining of an abscess, and an intubation. Fun stuff.</p>
<p>Funny quote:
Nurse 1: Who's that?
Nurse 2: That's the Placer County mental health worker.
N1: Is she the... (voice trails off)
N2: No, she's actually good.</p>
<p>Weirdest conversation:
A couple secretaries and a doctor (?) start talking about porn (Ron Jeremy, etc.). First time I ever heard that around the ER.</p>
<p>Isn't this a blatant violation of Patient confidentiality. I love the stories, but as much as you like sharing and we like listening, we should also concern ourselves with the privacy of the those that entrust us with it.</p>
<p>P.S. Its really cool how your area hospitals let you work in the E.R., in the hospital I volunteer at, volunteers are not allowed in the ER, trauma, and surgery areas.</p>
<p>Very good point. I've actually written about my experiences volunteering for the teen section of Sacramento Bee (local paper), and no one has said a word about it. The chief ER doctor actually recognized me for it, and an article is actually posted in the volunteering office. So take what you want from it, I guess.</p>
<p>This probably isn't a big deal HIPPA wise. If you were posting or writing information that made it easy for someone to identify who the patient was, that'd be a problem, but HIPPA is mainly to protect identifying health information. You should err on the safe side and maybe avoid racial or age identifiers, not that anyone you see is likely to be lurking on CC.</p>
<p>That definetely beats like stock books at the library or things like that.</p>
<p>I wish the hospitals around here let volunteers do more. gah.</p>