Thursday, September 8, 2011

Trauma Clouds

There is a common superstition about working in trauma. Certain people have "black clouds" and elicit groans from all staff working that day when they find out they have to work with you.  Having a black cloud over your head means that the bloodiest, blackest, most heart-wrenching traumas will more likely roll through the door when you are present than not.  You could be a doctor, a nurse, a tech- anybody. People will whisper and shake their heads; you are cursed.

I have the opposite problem, for better or worse.  When I work in trauma, I hardly get any. I average maybe 2 light ones per shift, whether 12 hour or 8 hour.  Several times, after a shift totally devoid of traumas, I hear overhead "full trauma now, full trauma now" as I am walking out the door on my way home.  They like to tell me that I've cursed myself by saying it, but I've been saying it for months. It's just the luck of some people, I guess. Nurses clutch at me for protection when I leave, maybe trying to stand under my "white cloud" for a little while.

I had 2 traumas yesterday, both crush injuries occurring between man and machine. One man got his fingers sucked in by a commercial dryer. Several of his fingers were slashed open and nails were shorn off, but he luckily avoided any nerve and bone damage.  The other was more serious, where a man crawled under heavy machinery to flip a switch when it fell on him, pinning him, shattering his pelvis, and rupturing his bladder. Not good.

Take care out there, gentle readers. Don't do anything silly when working with machinery or equipment or work without having your wits about you; the machine has its own intentions for which it is made and it takes  only a few seconds to change your life forever.

S

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