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Thursday, October 25, 2007

Beware! There's a full moon tonight.

I've been off work the past 6 days, so as I was driving to work this afternoon I was kind of hoping to have a good night: then I noticed the full moon.

I never believed in superstitions until I got this job. I've had good nights and I've had bad nights, but I have rarely had a good night with a full moon lighting up the night sky.

One night during a full moon we had a patient in for detox and he escaped through the window and onto the roof. An hour later he was found by the ER staff; he had walked in as a new patient. Have you ever had a patient escape like that? We've had it happen more than once, and our windows are but little slits.

If there's a crazy person out there, tonight's the night he'll make a public appearance. Will it be the cops, the social workers, or us hospital staffers who will have to deal with the brunt of it? I'm hoping it's not me tonight.

Who's going to be busy tonight, and what kind of busy is it going to be? Is this going to be one of those nights where we have three codes on the floors, or one of those nights where I have to do 20 EKGs in ER? Or will it be something totally unexpected, like another escapee.

I'm prepared for the worst but hoping for the best tonight.

You guys have any good full moon stories?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I once had an extremely intoxicated bipolar patient who would flip between sobbing and homicidal rage very quickly with no warning. This was made worse by the presence of her uncle in the next ER bed, accompanying some young lady who had taken a few too many drugs. It was like something out of Jerry Springer.

Then there was the night that I found a patient wandering the dark end of a disused hallway. He seemed confused and then he asked me where he could buy a gun that couldn't be traced. Freaky...

Beth Nelsen said...

I was in the pediatric ER working on a full moon on St. Patrick's Day one year. It's like Satan unlocked the gates of hell and said, "Don't come back until you've destroyed everything that is good and sacred!"

I lost count after 10 drunken high school kids. Not to mention the regular nonsense traipsing through the door that night.

RT/Medic said...

it started early here last weekend we had an intoxicated young man come in to the ED. He was fighting with his girlfriend and to teach her a lesson he pulled one of his ears off with a pair of pliers. it just goes to show you ETOH and stupidity don't mix