Doc I've got a pain in my belly

Turn up to A&E today expecting to see the usual handful of patients hanging around. Ours doesn't seem to be the busiest A&E in the world in fact we usually end up fighting over patients. Today however the world and his wife were coming in on foot or by ambulance. All of the cubicles were full and their were ambulance trolleys stacked in the corridor. As we entered there were 6 stretched patients waiting to be booked in. It came as no surprise that the teaching we were supposed to get on abdo pain was cancelled (a real shame as last weeks pair said it was awesome) but we were free to find ourselves some relevent patients. Im normally all for an afternoon off due to cancellation but this the the 3rd time in 3 weeks so I'm starting to feel a distinct lack of knowledge. So onto the 'shop floor' we went, dodging behind trolleys and tyring not to get in the way. Typically there was not a single patient out of about 30 that had come in with abdo pain. At least half of them were 'collapse', this is usual frail old ladies passing out not my favourite type of thing to deal with as dementia oftne plays a part. If i get demented in my elder years I think being shot may be the way forward, its an awful illness that eliminates you from society and distances you from the people you love, very distressing for all involves.

Anyway we took this as an oppurtunity to do a runner up to the SRU (surgical recieving unit), which patients with acute surgical problems are sent in straight from their GP's to be assessed by a surgeon or more likely a medical student and then the surgical house officer (read 'lackeys'). It has to be one of my favourite places to be in the hospital, the HO's are always eternally grateful for your help and you get to clerk and take bloods on as many people as come through the doors. Its one place where your contribution helps the patient out, as it means they get seen quicker plus you've had an important hand in their care. Plus its usually full of acute abdomens, alas today not quite as full as i would have liked. There were plenty of patients but many had non-abdo probs or were demented and unable to speak to us.

One lady in particular struck me today most probably because she was screaming blue murder and shouting all the time. She had a gangrenous foot and that had progressed to a leg that was simply not viable, amputation was simply her only option. To complicate things she had severe dementia and had been shunted from nursing home to nursing home, the family werent even aware of all the problems that were there. Its truly horrifying to see these things happen to people, most wouldnt let their pets get into that state but their own mothers seem to get less consideration. Put them in a home and they become somebody elses problem.

Some pretty none descript abdo problems came through after that which we clerked and drew blood from. 6 weeks ago the thought of just strolling in and taking blood filled me with dread having only ever taken from a plastic arm before but once you've taken that first vial its easy peasy. In fact today i managed a really hard vein first time, even the reg was surprised. My life would be a whole lot easier if my partner in crime wasnt so dim. Honestly some of the questions she comes out with are just ridiculous. Recent classics have included:
'Whats a normal persons oxygen saturation in room air?' (for ll you non medics its 98-99%, below 95% and we worry)
'Can we have more abdo exam teaching' This is stupid simply because we've had at least 3 teaching sessions this year and have already been examined on it 3 times, if you don't know it by now then just go home. Made worse by the fact we missed out on some good neurology teaching.
Plus she's always stealing my patients, i do all the leg work and then she yoinks them away to present at feedback honestly the cheek of it!
2 more weeks of her then its time for a fresh buddy who just happens to be my housemate. We will either be team awesome or crash and burn only time will tell.