Not that I didn't like it...I just felt really out of my element. People in the ICU are really sick - and unfortunately, lots of them die. I just felt uncomfortable...as if I didn't know what to do for them. In the ER, I can rattle off all the labs, images, and medicines I want for most complaints. But in the ICU, when the patients come up all hooked to ventilators and with multiple different lines running multiple different drips - I'M LOST!
I LOVED all the procedures I got to do though. And when I finally got back to the ER this month, my first central line was no problem.
Waking up every single morning at 5:01am got old too. I kinda like sleeping in sometimes!
But now that I'm back in the ER ER ERRRRR, I'm so much happier! I've decided in my head that I need to take full advantage of being just an intern and do as many procedures on my patients as possible. Even if I don't suspect something in the abdomen, why not roll the harmless ultrasound machine in there and take a look around. What patient doesn't like seeing their own organs on the screen? I know that I would want to know what my kidneys looked like!
And who knows what you'll see? Like the sweet gall stones I found on my patient with abdominal pain...(black area in the middle is the gallbladder....white balls inside are the stones!) I wasn't surprised at all when the official ultrasound came back saying "Cholelithiasis".
Today, I even got to reduce a dislocated jaw! I work with such great people - and it is so refreshing being back "home".
