Spring Breaking It

I’m on spring break and should be grading tests and relaxing. I’m doing neither. Monday I rode with my preceptor for 8 hours and had 3.5 hours of medic class. Yesterday I spend 8 hours following respiratory therapists around listening to lung sounds. Today is 8 more hours with my preceptor plus a night being on call for my home agency (with the students out of town the board is fairly empty). Thursday I spend in a bigger emergency department and Friday will be in the ICU. I guess I grade midterms this weekend.

Worked a serious difficulty breathing on Monday. We could her the patient breathing from 40 feet away. Patient was hypertensive, had pedal edema and altered mental status. When she saw us she looked at us with that “you’ve got to save me” look. Two doses of nitro and 80 mg of Lasix later we had (if only temporarily) done just that. Her O2 sats went from the low 80’s to 96 and she looked like a different person. Amazing feeling.

DJ