Chapter 2 – Triage
I walk across the ambulance bay and spotted the sliding doors with the sign 'Emergency Room' above it. The door whooshed open, I felt the warmth from inside hit me and I started to shiver, my body's quick reaction going from freezing cold to warm. I stand still with my eyes racing round the waiting room looking to see how many people were present, waiting to be seen. There must be about 15-20 people, though I had guessed that they are not all patients. I notice a couple of tramps taking up the free space lying across the seating. I could smell their stinking odour when I stepped afoot in this building. The smell is so bad that I had a wave of nausea coming on so I rushed to the triage desk with my hand covering my mouth, which is situated ahead through another set of sliding doors. I started to cough violently, gasping for air, a reaction of the odour and wheezing from my rib injury. I am normally not bothered with bad smells, with my profession, maybe it's my frame of mind, and I'm feeling vulnerable and weak.
I stood at the triage desk waiting for the nurse with long blond curly hair to serve me, she was chatting on the phone, and I don't how many times she rolled her eyes. She had the longest face I've seen for all week, I had more smile than her and I'm the one who is in bloody pain! I jumped at the high-pitched screech from a woman, walking pass behind me, I turned to look with my finger probing in my ear, what the hell? I see a red haired female doctor with a crutch, dictating a couple of young doctors who are trying to keep up with her pace. God I hope she's not the one going to interview me!
"Can I help you?" says a voice from behind the glass, attracted my attention. Thank god! You've finally got off that phone; you're not here to get paid for gossiping. I raised my right brow and looked down at her badge to see her name. 'Samantha Taggart, RN'
"Yes I need see a doctor," I wheezed, leaning forward over the counter clutching my arm, throbbing with pain.
"You've come to the right place, what is the nature of your problem" says the nurse putting on a forced smile and then frowned at me, at my erratic breathing "Are you asthmatic?"
"No" I replied in a low tone "I slipped on some black ice on the sidewalk downtown, I suspect I have a Colles' fracture, you know the radius is broken, there is local swelling and contusion" I struggle to pull up my sleeve to show her, then I unzipped my coat to show her my blood stained clothing "And compound fracture to ribs, which might have punctured my lungs or damaged the intercostal muscles"
The nurse raised her brows, surprised at my medical knowledge. She picks up a clipboard from the front of her and grabbed a pen from the pot. Then thrusts them both at me, chewing her gum. "You will need to fill in your details and insurance etcetera, etcetera and etcetera"
"How many etcetera's were there?" I smiled sarcastically and turned away towards the waiting room. I see a young doctor with stubble and ruffled up hair trying to remove the tramps away from the area, I am surprised at his image, and he looks like a rock star especially with the t-shirt he is wearing underneath his lab coat. I'm sure a few female patients are dying to experience his bedside manners in the ER! He turns round and nods at me, I nodded back mouthing thank you. The young doctor clasps both hands on his clipboard, looking down trying to pronounce a surname on the paperwork. I try not to laugh at him.
I sat down in the nearest empty seat and placed my holdall on the floor between my feet. I placed the clipboard on my lap to look at the triage questionnaire and started scribbling my details until I was distracted by a siren wailing outside, the high decibel echo hollowed in the enclosed ambulance bay area vibrated right through me. I couldn't decide which noise was worst, that or the fiery red haired doctor!
The internal sliding door on my right side whooshed open with a Hispanic looking woman with her hair tied up, wearing a bright pink top and a multi colored nurses coat. She is followed by a attractive female doctor with a blonde bob hairstyle pacing through snapping on their gloves getting ready to receive the patient, obviously one who is in the ambulance that just arrived. On my left, two EMT's come crashing in through the external sliding doors with their patient on a gurney. I am surprised that door is still in one piece.
"What have we got?" asked the doctor examining the victim.
"Male, 25 with multiple stab wounds, BP 100/50, O neg, he already lost 3 pints" The male EMT answered.
"Ok we need to load up the O neg when put him in trauma 3" says the blonde instructing her team.
I watch her help pushing the gurney through the door, disappearing out of my sight. I look around looking at other people in the waiting room, whispering, chattering and shaking their heads in disbelief about the victim being pushed forward, in front of the queue. I roll my eyes at their impatience. I take a look at my watch to see what time it is, read 10.43. I let out a deep sigh thinking my appointment is at 1 o'clock; I still may have plenty of time, if not I'll tell them I am here but not in one piece! I look down at my wrist again and was surprised that did not take my watch off. The oedema has made my watchstrap cut through the skin; I winced, struggling to undo the strap, touching the tenderness of the wounded site. I got up and picked up my finished questionnaire and walked back to the nurse at the triage desk.
I hand the clipboard over to her and she looks through it. She raises her brows and mutters 'Doctor'. Nurse Taggart quickly looks up at me then looks down again scanning the paper.
"Having a bad day?" I asked, trying to give small talk
"Yep you could say that" She replied and gets up from her chair and walks out of her triage unit. I paused to think, wondering why she left so abruptly. She then reappeared behind her desk. "Considering you are Doctor, we can push you up the queue"
"Oh thank you," I said, I started to feel guilty because there are people out there who have been waiting longer than me. I would normally decline but considering I have an interview, I will take up that offer.
"Oh one more thing, may I have some dressing so I can compress this bleeding," I asked pointing at my ribs.
"Take a seat and I'll bring you some"
I go back to the waiting room to sit down again. I notice the lingering odour has disappeared. The external sliding doors whoosh opened again, everyone look in that direction. The freezing cold draught circulated the warm room. Nobody was present, and then the doors went again, this time I see a kid messing around with the sensor from the outside. The culprit kept repeating his actions until some guy burst out in anger trying to keep warm; he was sat next to the exit, chased after him. My body starts to shudder and my teeth are shattering then I see Nurse Taggart walk towards me with some dressing in her hand.
"I'll put this on for you, I don't think you'll manage with that bad arm," She offered, applying on the dressing against my wound.
"Ouch!" I moaned, my face grimaced at the nurse who was heavy handed.
"Sorry" She gets up apologizing and whispered "You should be seen within a hour"
I thanked the nurse, I looked around if there were any magazine lying around, there were none, so I leaned over to my holdall and pull out my portfolio to flick through to kill the time…