So much for effort being worth the reward

“Direct Threats require direct action”
-Dick Cheney

A patient threatened to kill me awhile back.

Hardly a new experience; in fact I’d have to say that a week doesn’t go by without someone threatening to do something to either me, my family, my pets, etc. I’m sure it’s a common experience for just about any ER nurse with more than a week or two of experience.

But what made this particular tirade different was the level of detail involved. This particular individual described how they were going to get a knife and cut my throat. When that failed to illicit anything more than a yawn this person began to say they were coming back with a shotgun to kill everyone in the ER. When my only response to that was to tell this individual that they needed to keep quiet now, they responded with the statement that their name was such and such and that I should remember it because they were going to “FU@K” me up.

As I said I'm used to being threatened, but a person crosses a line with me when they go from a general threat (I’m going to kill you) to a specific threat (I’m going to cut you Fu@king throat) so to be truthful I was pretty pissed off but allowed them to ramble on because:

1) I really had no choice

2) I wanted as many people as possible to hear these threats just in case anyone doubted what had really happened in the future.

The sad reality here is that as a “professional” I can’t do what I’d really like to do. So with little to no alternatives it was decided to pursue the one option left to us which was call the police.

What a waste of time that turned out to be!

While I’ll give credit to the local police for showing up, that was the extent of their reaction. From there the exercise for them seemed be about minimizing the situation as opposed to dealing with it.

When it was all said and done one has to wonder how different the outcome would have been had this individual threatened perhaps one of those police officers versus a lowly nurse.

Actually I don’t wonder at all; it seems to me that direct threats only require direct responses when someone deemed important is involved.

Vacation Time

"Vacation is what you take when you can't take what you've been taking any longer"
-Author Unknown


Sorry Kids taking the week off, see you early next week.

The Critical Review

“Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you do criticize him, you'll be a mile away and have his shoes.”
-Author Unknown


A reality of blogging is that you inevitable get criticized. Sometimes it takes the form of snarky comments or emails. Sometimes if you’re really special someone will bother to dedicate an entire post or two to taking a piece out of you in a massive ad hominem attack.

For the record I’ve received examples of all of them at one time or another. Most of the time I really don’t mind because it means someone is reading what I’m writing and just as importantly thinking about it. Well perhaps thinking may be attributing more credit than is due is some cases, perhaps reacting to it is more apt.

Most of the criticism I get more or less mentions:

1) That I should be more positive.

2) That I’m opinionated.

Or asks:

1) What gives me the right to comment on –insert name of issue here-



To that end please allow me to respond.

1) Thanks for reading!

2) Try looking up the term ANGRY sometime!

3) Obvious you have deeply held convictions about something I’ve written and are expressing yourself to that end, but doesn’t that make you equally opinionated?

4)As for what right? I believe its called freedom of speech.

From sharp minds come sharp remarks...

“The first human being who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization”
-Sigmund Freud


The ability to laugh at just about anything is a survival trait among ER staff. Of course the downside of that reality is that sometimes the best way to laugh in the face of stress is to do so at the expense of someone else usually a unsuspecting co worker. That said snappy remarks; sly insults; puns; practical jokes among other types of humour are a part of life in the ER. So much so in fact that sometimes you need a thick skin for more than the blood and guts.

Now personally I tend to use self deprecating insults. After all insulting yourself is safer then the alternatives to my mind because there is little chance I’ll file a complaint against myself for “harassment” if my attempt at a joke is taken the wrong way.

Sometimes a situation presents itself though and even I can’t resist taking a quick shot at a co-worker.

For instance,the other night I was the cover nurse for an uber sick patient. It was your standard 1:1 disaster patient and busy just doesn’t describe the situation. It’s a tough spot to be in so something as simple as a coffee break makes a big difference in your disposition. Anyway after a little cajoling I convinced the primary nurse a girl who is a few years younger than me to take 15 minutes off. After she left I spent most of my time trying to reassure the family and one remark I made to help them feel a little more confident was that between me and the primary nurse we had 43 years of nursing experience taking care of people in exactly this type of situation. The family felt better and for a little bit all was well.

A few minutes later the primary nurse comes back somewhat rested and refreshed and I’m relating what happened including the 43 years of experience remark. The primary is nodding her head in agreement to everything I’m saying so quickly I add “of course I didn’t tell them that I only had 3 years of experience and that you had 40”. The nodding stopped quite suddenly and I get a whack in the back of the head as well as a chorus of laughs from those within earshot.

Yup a sense of humour and a thick skin and in this case a thick skull is defiantly required!