A colleague is on trauma which is OK except there is one resident who always rips on the ED. Recently he was taking us to task for waiting to call them for an appy in a 3rd trimester pregnant lady--they were called at 4 am for a patient that arrived the previous evening late for a 'classic' presentation.
Ah, the medical record. I must now enumerate with the alphabet and count with my fingers.
A, the patient did'nt have 'classic' symptoms initially. She had vague abdominal pain which, hmm, could be some other things besides an appy in the 3rd trimester, like, oh I don't know, labor or preeclampsia.
B, the OB attending had been consulted and agreed the patient had an appy within an hour or two of the patient showing up which was pretty good, thanks. Then, she spent hours--literally four hours--arguing up and down with radiology about getting a CT, which, frankly, she needed in a 3rd trimester pregnant lady who was about to get filleted for an appy or rupture. Totally the ED's fault, clearly. As if we got a 'classic' case and then waited around for the five or six hours until it was totally inconvenient to call.
C,while we're on the subject, why the heck is a radiologist arguing with an OB of all people about getting a scan on a pregnant lady? Wouldn't the OB know more about pregnant ladies? Perhaps? Sheesh.
Sometimes we absolutely get things wrong, I admit, me more than most since, as an Intern, it takes me six hours to disposition a hangnail or toothache. However, we actually do know what we're doing and we actually do make good decisions. Often. Sigh.
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