COWman's Corner of the Web

Yes, this is me whenever I have to hook a patient up to the cardiac monitor (okay, I am still a man, but I end up looking very similar to that). I am not sure how 5 leads can get so tangled up, but they do. It doesn't seem to matter if I untangle the leads before or after I attach the pads (here's a hint for all those nursing students out there: attach the electrodes to your leads before you stick them to your patient, especially if they are the kind of electrodes with the little metal button that the clips attach to) I end up with a mess very similar to that shown above when I go to start attaching it to the patients. I guess I should not be too concerned, from what I have seen, everyone has the same problem with leads.

The last 10 years of driving in urban/suburban roads had made me forget the fun of driving on country roads. Now that I am driving through the country on my way to work and back, I get to experience the country in all it's olfactory glory. I had forgotten/repressed the glorious smell of cow pastures and dead skunks. Luckily it has been dark most of the time, so I can't play my favorite game of "Guess the Roadkill".

I've been wondering if you can actually call it working day shift, if you do not actually get to see the sun? I don't know why there are never any windows in an Emergency room, but I have never been in one with any windows to the outside world. This time of year, when I am working a 0700 to 1900 shift, I actually drive to work in the dark and leave for home in the dark. The other day, I actually had to stop and think "Did I even see the sun today?" After a couple of minutes, I decided that yes, I had because I saw outside throught the doors of the ambulance entrance. I'm not sure which is worse, the fact that I had to stop and think about that, or the answer.