tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post4811971985591238881..comments2023-07-18T07:27:08.516+00:00Comments on Siren Voices: carpetsSpence Kennedyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183848895584919812noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-68103581056824917202012-09-03T09:17:07.124+00:002012-09-03T09:17:07.124+00:00Thanks v much for the comment, Bobbi - and for tak...Thanks v much for the comment, Bobbi - and for taking care of business in the safe unit. It's such a bonus to have those places. It helps reduce the strain enormously, both on the ambulance and the hospital. I just wish the drinkers would go out and enjoy themselves with a little bit more responsibility and forethought. If you know you're going out to get completely smashed, it wouldn't take much to pre-plan a way home or a place to stay. <br /><br />But I suppose one upside to all this is that you often see friends who'll stay with the patient, even spending hours in A&E with them. One girl, 18yo, was doing just that. I asked her if this had ever happened to her friend before and she said yes, two weeks ago! Hmm. <br /><br />One of the ironies is that there's never been so much help available for people who've had too much to drink - and never has the problem been so acute! I know alcohol is probably cheaper now than ever before, but even so I can't help wondering if the two are connected. <br /><br />Cheers Bobbi (sorry - unfortunate sign-off)Spence Kennedyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11183848895584919812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-1924683084254319332012-09-03T02:41:07.083+00:002012-09-03T02:41:07.083+00:00The descriptions are so vivid; it's like I'...The descriptions are so vivid; it's like I'm watching your shift over your shoulder. One the drunk score, there's one particular duty we do regularly with St. John where people seem to deliberately go just to get drunk, so we drag them into the unit, wrap them in blankets and foil blankets, maintain their airway for them and fetch them friends/relations/a means of getting home, and they cough, slur a sentence of overlapping words at us, raise their eyes to the people who plucked their passed-out body off the cold ground and spirited them into a warm, safe unit... And vomit all over said warm unit. Sigh. Mop. Repeat. Happens so many times each duty that I've developed a real irritation with drunk people bothering the NHS - just the drunks from this one duty would fill the local A&E, and there's nothing wrong with them that several hours sleep in a warm, safe place with a watchful friend looking after them won't fix.<br /><br />Sorry, rant over, I got a bit carried away there!Bobbihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01313415007613383006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-28525635778691089352012-08-25T10:09:05.063+00:002012-08-25T10:09:05.063+00:00Thanks v much, Verity.
It is pretty grim in A&...Thanks v much, Verity. <br />It is pretty grim in A&E over the weekends, sometimes (often-times). I've got a very clear image of one of the charge nurses - one of the really cool and self-possessed ones - coming out of resus, seeing me standing next to a drunk teenager on the ambulance trolley, and a look of profound despair passing over him. He said something like: <i>I swear, if I have to deal with one more drunk tonight ... </i> but then shrugging, taking a breath and carrying on. I really felt for him. At least in the ambulance we get to move on (once we've mopped out the back). :/Spence Kennedyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11183848895584919812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-29469074080821206302012-08-24T23:54:32.991+00:002012-08-24T23:54:32.991+00:00Great post! :) I work in a large A&E dept. Wee...Great post! :) I work in a large A&E dept. Weekend nights/mornings are HELL on earth so I sympathise entirely! As well as the violence and uncooperative patients there's the fantastic amount of sick. Paramedics and Techies get the frontline vomit. By the time they reach department there's a cardboard bowl or a suction catheter at the ready! VerityAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-75594619604668022482012-08-20T07:44:02.141+00:002012-08-20T07:44:02.141+00:00Well as you know Jacks, I like to chat. But not so...Well as you know Jacks, I like to chat. But not so much at half two in the morning after having already worked eight hours, the prospect of four more, surrounded by p**d clubbers shouting advice and a crazy friend trying to persuade me that it's actually the patient who is crazy.. so yes, it absolutely would! :/Spence Kennedyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11183848895584919812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-39931478814174268262012-08-20T06:28:09.023+00:002012-08-20T06:28:09.023+00:00Of all the different things you can do with your p...Of all the different things you can do with your patients,would shutting them up be the most welcome?jacksofbuxtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05420847156401984373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-76587249202752833432012-08-19T17:29:27.789+00:002012-08-19T17:29:27.789+00:00Thanks v much, BT & H! It's quite an epic ...Thanks v much, BT & H! It's quite an epic time when the clubs kick out. Esp. on a hot night... :/ Spence Kennedyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11183848895584919812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-90332427867995219812012-08-19T16:49:29.267+00:002012-08-19T16:49:29.267+00:00Lovely writing here Spence. Very vivid. Lovely writing here Spence. Very vivid. Henrynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-2786142815254785182012-08-19T16:26:40.420+00:002012-08-19T16:26:40.420+00:00I think the first paragraph is probably one of the...I think the first paragraph is probably one of the best descriptions I've read of club closing time in a long while. xBeautiful Things - Cathyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12037366136763465550noreply@blogger.com