first time ER triage
I’ve had the slowest and poopiest day at my internship. Arrive for evening shift around twelve and we had like no patients until 17ish… on top of the the nurse I was shadowing said like a total of 5 words to me the whole time I was there, and someone else picked up the slack from her n let me join her instead which I’m so grateful for even if I felt too awkward to really join her properly.
Anyways, she (the slack up picker) asked me to do the triage first for one patient and I didn’t feel prepared so I said no, then she asked for the next one as well and it was literally the perfect patient for it. It was like such a text book case of a hernia that it didn’t feel scary and unfamiliar, the owner was a sweet little old lady, and the dog was super sweet and adorable.
It didn’t go perfectly, in fact I’d argue I missed A LOT of important things. Including introducing myself haha. And I keep fucking up at using a stethoscope, which you’d think wouldn’t be hard to use but it’s so embarrassing to realize you put it on flipped when you’re by the patient >_<
Here are some things I should remember for next time:
- introduce myself with my title (the title is the important part)
- be specific about what times the pet has done things like eaten and gone potty, rather than just asking if it has done those things!
- note in journal how pet reacted to touch if relevant.
There are probably more things that I can’t remember now! Mostly I’m relieved and happy I did it! And now doing it again seems slightly less scary!