Today's "Reason For Your Visit"

When a patient checks in at our ER, they are asked to fill out a half-sheet of paper with name, phone, SSN, birth date, and "reason for your visit".

Whenever I work triage, I write down the interesting ones and have been building up a list.  Some are funny, some embarrassing, and some just tickle my warped sense of humor.  I try to give the benefit of the doubt.  I know that these people are hurting and just want to be seen, but it still makes me shake my head to see some of the things that patients can come up with.

Thus, my regular (as in whenever I feel like it) series, "Reason For Your Visit."  Please keep in mind that spelling, punctuation, and capitalization are copied directly from the original paper.

So let's get to today's Reason For Your Visit:

Slip on Ice. on 1/8/09. Lowse Back Pain. Pain when sitting. Walk. Et.

Thank you.  for your visit.  to our ER.  To sit.  Walk.  Et.  It means.  A lot.  to us.  (And yes, I have experienced back pain and it is very lousy.)

In Memorium

Anoop, you will be missed.

On the plus side, now that I don't really care about anybody left in American Idol, maybe I'll have time for other things.

American Idol Top 6... er... I mean 7

So you may have noticed that posts are coming few and far between lately.  Don't despair.  I'm still gathering material and keeping it safe and preparing to get back into it again, I've just found myself with very little energy lately, and sitting at the computer and composing award-winning posts has taken a back seat to playing with my kids and exploring the wonders of the iPhone.

Even American Idol has lost some of the glamour, as evidenced by my ever-shortening reviews from week to week.  Here are my thoughts for this week (I'm going from memory here - sue me)

Lil needs to go home. 4
Allison continues to show raw talent, but it is too raw for me to really get behind. 5
Danny hasn't really wowed me in a long time, but at the same time he hasn't been terrible either. 5
Adam gets nervous on stage or maybe he just thinks he needs to sing way too high when he is balladeering.  Then he hits the painful scream glory note and I'm left repeating myself: I'm sure I'll like the studio version.  4.5
Kris is starting to grate on me.  I find myself wanting to like him, but I'm getting tired of the whiny tone of this voice.  From reading a few blogs, everyone else seems to be wetting their pants with glee on this performance.  I just didn't care for it too much. 5
Matt did better than I thought he would with such a dumb song choice, but this is a bad song to try to sing live and he didn't blow it out tha box like you have to with such a song. 5
Anoop has an amazing smooth, silky voice and used it well on a boring and repetitive arrangement, and I'm not sure what happened on the last note, but something was off.  He is still the only contestant I really care about, and I don't understand the hating from Simon.  6

My predictions: Lil and Allison are going home.  Update: I looked at dialidol, and they have Lil as the top vote-getter.  Why, America?  So I'll say Allison and Matt.

Now I need to get to bed, as I have to get up for a boring 8 hour training day in five hours.  Dr. Pepper, don't fail me now.

American Idol Top 7 - One Word Reviews

A very talented group continues to deliver mediocre performances.  Yet again, I'll probably enjoy Adam's toned-down studio version, but I hate hate hate him live.

Allison - Amateur. 4
Anoop - Beautiful. 8
Adam - Stupid. 3
Matt - Forced. 5
Danny - Distant. 5
Kris - Whiny. 5
Lil - Okay. 5

Predictions:  Bottom 3: Lil, Allison, Matt.  Going home: Matt

Today's "Reason For Your Visit"

When a patient checks in at our ER, they are asked to fill out a half-sheet of paper with name, phone, SSN, birth date, and "reason for your visit".

Whenever I work triage, I write down the interesting ones and have been building up a list.  Some are funny, some embarrassing, and some just tickle my warped sense of humor.  I try to give the benefit of the doubt.  I know that these people are hurting and just want to be seen, but it still makes me shake my head to see some of the things that patients can come up with.

Thus, my regular (as in whenever I feel like it) series, "Reason For Your Visit."  Please keep in mind that spelling, punctuation, and capitalization are copied directly from the original paper.

So let's get to today's Reason For Your Visit:

Broken Ankle Sprain

This sounds more like a CYA diagnosis.  Just wait until the x-ray results come back and cross off the first or the last word.

American Idol top 8 - the short, short version

Each week, I seem to have less and less to say.  This week I didn't even bother taking notes.

Allison impressed me - wasn't expecting it.  Adam was in the same boat as always for me: great vocals, but I just don't like his live singing voice.  I'm sure I'll like the studio version.  Anoop was good and I look forward to the cleaned up studio version.  Lil stanked it up.  Matt was okay, but sounded a little like a sheep.  Kris sucked big time.  Scott sang his best yet and it was still a yawner.  I like Danny less each week.  I'm actually kinda bored of him.

Okay, so in the end, that probably wasn't shorter than last week, but I find my interest in this season of American Idol fading.  The only one of the bunch that I really care about is Anoop, and when I tried to vote for him, the phone line was busy.  I thought that would be good news, but when I tested other numbers they were all busy, too.  If Anoop gets kicked off, I'm suing American Idol.

Finally, for your viewing pleasure, I leave you with this freeze frame of Adam sitting on the toilet.  Seriously.  Go back and watch the first couple seconds of his performance.  Brilliant.

(sorry for the poor quality - taking a picture of a TV screen with the little iPhone camera doesn't lend itself to world class photos.)

Today's "Reason For Your Visit"

When a patient checks in at our ER, they are asked to fill out a half-sheet of paper with name, phone, SSN, birth date, and "reason for your visit".

Whenever I work triage, I write down the interesting ones and have been building up a list.  Some are funny, some embarrassing, and some just tickle my warped sense of humor.  I try to give the benefit of the doubt.  I know that these people are hurting and just want to be seen, but it still makes me shake my head to see some of the things that patients can come up with.

Thus, my regular (as in whenever I feel like it) series, "Reason For Your Visit."  Please keep in mind that spelling, punctuation, and capitalization are copied directly from the original paper.

So let's get to today's Reason For Your Visit:

CHEST PAIN!!!

He had a cold.

Are You One of Those People?

So I'm sitting at the nursing station, entering an assessment into the EMR, and I'm focused on my task.  (Just ask my wife - when I focus, everything else goes away.)  Apparently the telephone was ringing.  I don't really pay attention to the telephone ringing because the unit secretary answers the phones, but apparently the unit secretary was away from the desk.

I cam out of my haze of focusness to hear one of the nurses at the other end of the nursing station saying, "can someone get the phone, please?" and then, looking at me, saying "apparently only certain people can answer the phone here."

An acceptable chastisement... if she had not been standing around with two other nurses taking pictures with her cell phone at the time.

So apparently I should have stopped doing my job to answer the phone so that you could continue to get paid to stand around and do nothing?  Apparently only certain people can answer the phone... and apparently you aren't one of those people.