Color Me Really Pissed Off!

Okay, first, with the new 24/7 coverage of our position here at work, my weekend day shifts now start at the ungodly, inhuman, no-one-should-be-up-and-functional-this-early hour of 0700. Not my nice 0900-2100 shifts, oh no. 7.in.the.fucking.morning.

I was awake before the magpies this morning, damn it! Then, while driving to work, someone who turned out to be another staff member here was tailgating me. Grrrrrrr, not a wise move. While parking my car in the parkade, it was almost hit by another cow-irker who wasn't looking where she was driving. And then when I was walking through the parkade, yet another employee sped up the ramp and almost ran me down. Just a peachy start to the day.

Don't even get me started on the lack of staff and beds right now. And the reluctance of certain staff members to do their fucking jobs - no, they'd rather foot-drag and stonewall and come up with (totally bogus) reasons not to accept admissions or transfers. I have always believed a hospital to be a 24/7 functioning site. If you don't want to accept patients, don't work here!

*twitch twitch* I feel a new rant coming on - one about people abusing the health care system............

Right then - here's what an ER is for: EMERGENCY CARE!!!!! Not to get a cough that you've had for two months checked out. Not for getting your MMR booster shot. Not for prescription-hunting or drug-seeking. Not for having a minor boo-boo that could be treated with a bandaid and a lollipop assessed. Not to complain about your constipation. For the eighth time this week. When you're a heroin addict. Not to get the wax syringed out of your ears.

And, for those of the common-sense challenged persuasion, here's what constitutes an emergency: Loss of consciousness, particularly if accompanied by the head banging on the floor. Copious amounts of blood coming from a place blood doesn't normally issue from. A fever that makes you glow like a hibachi on high heat. Inability to breathe to the point where you're turning blue. Chest pain. Really, pain in the chest. Breathing so congested or labored you can be heard from another room. The forcible separation from one's body of a limb or a digit. Being stabbed deeper than 1 inch with any sharp object, especially if accompanied by lots of blood. Being shot. Sudden blindness. Broken bones. Getting the picture?

Oh, and if you're without transportation, and feel that the ankle you twisted a week ago need immediate attention in an ER, DO NOT call an ambulance to take you there. Pay for a cab you cheap bastard. By occupying an ambulance when you're not in dire need, you may be sentencing a TRUE emergency patient to death.