Tuesday, March 23, 2010

This place is nuts!

Today we had a really annoying lady come in today likely seeking narcotics. She was angry, she cried, she told me how she was just passing through town and needed a refill on her phenergan/codine cough syrup that she just can't live without. She showed me her last bottle that she had filled 14 days ago. It was a 500mL bottle and it was empty. She wanted something for her neck pain too. As it turns out she just got her MRI results before she left California that showed this, that and the other was wrong with her neck. Well, she's also on 4 psych meds, 4-5 pain meds and some other stuff I can't remember. I relay all this to my preceptor who comes in and lays it on the line to her. No narcotics on the first visit. But she can have flexaril and Tessalon Perles for her muscle spasms and cough. She complains about not being to afford them, some problems with her Medicaid in CA, and while grumbling storms out of the office without getting any of her scripts.

Later a guy who I stitched up last week came back to get his stitches out. But he brought his psycho girlfriend who complained about the crappy job I did, the fact that they had to pay another office visit, that I released her bf to light duty at work after 3 days and he went to heavy duty right away, that I should have know better that he couldn't possibly work at all given his occupation as a line cook. Turns out he's also a gopher who "has to" carry and lift heavy foodstuffs or something. Oh and he "has to" wash dishes. After a few hours in the rubber gloves he got keep his hands dry - his hands were likely very macerated anyway. And he stopped using the brace we made for his hand to keep his wound stable, His gf gets entirely bitchy with me from the get-go and starts to berate me and argue with me about who knows what really - mostly how it's my fault her gutless, stupid boyfriend can't take care of his wound properly. Well, after taking out 2 stitches I could see his lac wasn't healing at all. I put some steri-strips down and told him not do anything with his hand if he wanted it to heal. In the meantime, this guy's girlfriend throws a shit fit, the office manager calls the cops and my preceptor throws a very intense, profanity laden shit fit of his own in front of the patient, other patients, and the entire staff. I had to pull him away from the patient (for the second time during my rotation there) as violence would have ensued, and then I finished dressing the patient's hand. The patient's girlfriend ran off and he was stuck answering to the cops.

If this sounds disjointed or confusing, I am ok with that because that is how I still feel having been involved in this crap.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hang in there! I just found your blog and I think it's great! I'll be starting PA school in August :) and I'm excited/nervous...

Unknown said...

That was friggin awesome! As a EMT I know exactly the dirtbags you deal with. I feel guilty calling them that, but they wear on you. I just found this blog and as a PA student hopeful, I really appreciate it!