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"Perks" of being a Doctor: Part 3 - After Midnight
Five people are waiting for the radiologist to finish taking the chest x-ray of a patient who was revived back to life.
Its past midnight as I take over my shift at the ED. There are a handful of patients with their loved ones on their side, a couple of nurses and other doctors. Its a slow and quiet night as I sat behind a desk which is next to my patients. Then suddenly, an irate scream of an attendant pierced through the silence which surrounded the emergency hall. She was holding her husband as he was gasping for air and not responding. We rushed to check his heart beat but couldn't hear it so we started CPR and gave him Adrenalin. Moments later his pulse was back but he was still gasping and trying to get as much oxygen in his lungs with the help of his accessory muscles. Because he will be fatigued soon if he is not put on a mechanical ventilator, we put him on face mask and Dopamine drip waiting for the green light to send him to the ICU. We have done all the investigations needed except Chest x-ray in which the doctor assigned in the ICU needed the most to treat him based on the findings.
The x-ray room is on another building so we transported him to x-ray room by going outside in order to reach our destination. And so as one doctor held the portable oxygen in the unforgiving cold night, I was holding an Ambu bag, while a nurse, a GP and a Porter was pushing the stretcher the patient was on. We got the x-ray done and took him back to the ED.
He is a 38 years old known HIV and Hepatitis B positive patient with admission to the hospital two months back for the treatment of PCP which he contracted due to his suppressed immune system with a recent CD4 count of 21. His lungs lit like stars on his chest x-ray which was done back then and now its no different. You could hear the coarse crepitation sound of his lung without using a stethoscope as he breathed in and out. His eyes were fixed after the Post-cardiac arrest and only one can hope for time to heal him.
Its past midnight as I take over my shift at the ED. There are a handful of patients with their loved ones on their side, a couple of nurses and other doctors. Its a slow and quiet night as I sat behind a desk which is next to my patients. Then suddenly, an irate scream of an attendant pierced through the silence which surrounded the emergency hall. She was holding her husband as he was gasping for air and not responding. We rushed to check his heart beat but couldn't hear it so we started CPR and gave him Adrenalin. Moments later his pulse was back but he was still gasping and trying to get as much oxygen in his lungs with the help of his accessory muscles. Because he will be fatigued soon if he is not put on a mechanical ventilator, we put him on face mask and Dopamine drip waiting for the green light to send him to the ICU. We have done all the investigations needed except Chest x-ray in which the doctor assigned in the ICU needed the most to treat him based on the findings.
The x-ray room is on another building so we transported him to x-ray room by going outside in order to reach our destination. And so as one doctor held the portable oxygen in the unforgiving cold night, I was holding an Ambu bag, while a nurse, a GP and a Porter was pushing the stretcher the patient was on. We got the x-ray done and took him back to the ED.
He is a 38 years old known HIV and Hepatitis B positive patient with admission to the hospital two months back for the treatment of PCP which he contracted due to his suppressed immune system with a recent CD4 count of 21. His lungs lit like stars on his chest x-ray which was done back then and now its no different. You could hear the coarse crepitation sound of his lung without using a stethoscope as he breathed in and out. His eyes were fixed after the Post-cardiac arrest and only one can hope for time to heal him.
Published 13th Jan 2019
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