My First Trauma Bay Experience

6:00 am you walk into the ED headed towards the Pediatric Emergency Department; you buzz in to go through the first set of doors entering a waiting room full of stressed parents and ill patients you step up to the desk at the front of the room and show your ID to enter through the next set of automatic locked doors. The locking mechanism in the door switches off with a loud mechanical sound and the doors slowly swing open. What do you expect to see?

Every day, shift, even hour in the Pediatric Emergency Department will present you with something new. When I say something new although different interesting medically cases may come through the doors at any given moment or a beeping pager may alert the staff to a medical emergency coming in via Ambulance, sometimes that something new is the personality of a patient or a families way of handling a critically ill child, or a cultural understanding that is different from those you normally see. Even if you see and diagnose 100 ear infections and cases of pink eye in a day you will never see two patients that are identical in personality, heart, and experience so there is always something new.

This blog post is titled "My First Trauma bay Experience" and that is what I am going to share with you right now.

It was around mid-day I had seen a series of patients with several doctors that day from plastics consults to orthopedics and cardiology but little did I know that I was going to witness one of the most perfectly oiled machines in action and fall even deeper in love with a field that I already thought I loved as much as I ever possibly could. Three sharp beeps almost in an echoing effect across the physicians station went off, the head fellow reached for the master beeper and read aloud what was coming in, "We have a _ y/o male possibly critical in the field, sever lacerations and trauma to the head and face,____."

After organizing the troops and determining who would be accompanying the team in the trauma bay my mentor the physician that had just announced the incoming patients condition gestured for me to follow her. I followed her to the doors of the trauma bay where she handed me boots to cover my shoes a trauma gown, and mask saying to me " stay close, pay attention and watch". Calm and collected with the presence of a type of Adrenalin the team organized; physicians, nurses, a pharmacist, and scribes fell into position around the bed in the center of the room. The med board (a board that based on the length of the child and approximate weight lists medication dosages) came out and was placed on the table. The game plan was established the management of the ABC's were put first and foremost and a resident was selected to manage the airway; medications were being drawn up and the proper intubation kits with backups were readied.

A calm came over me my focus sharpened and a feeling that I can only explain as a readiness before a battle, like tightening your armor and adjusting your blade, An experience I have every time an emergency situation that demands my attention rapidly approaches or stands before me. Even though I was not required to play a role in this instance other than to be a keen observer I was ready for what ever came through those doors just as the team there was ready to put their skills to use in what ever way necessary. Through the trauma bay doors came a infant covered in blood with laceration to his head and face as well as scratches to his body. The paramedics handed off care and the trauma team sprung to action, assessing the patients airway which was secure, getting the patients measurements to correlate drug doses. my mentor looked up at me and gave a slight gesture with her eyes directing me through the crowded room to see all that I could as she worked. A nurse at the bedside coaching the infant through what was happening. Everyone played an important role in that room, everyone was at the ready, giving all that they had. The room was filled to the brim with medical professionals and myself but like a choreographed ballet each team member moved unhindered, their voices like a symphony every note heard and answered in time. The patient did well in the end although physicians in the room mentioning how close that child could have come to death if only the lacerations were an inch lower.

This experience took place years ago but it is one I will never forget and that I will forever be grateful for. Being able to see the roles everyone plays in a situation like that is amazing, each role is different but like the gears in a clock each one clicks together and makes the hands of the clock turn to keep time.

This is just a small portion of my experience and what happened, but from even just this small snippet I think it is a good representation of my first trauma bay experience.Note: I made sure not to include any specific details for patient privacy as well as some other things.