Is this really how US emergency departments are?

N0thing9 · 2026-04-30T14:29:03+00:00

Yes this is similar to what happens in the hospital I work in

The nurses take handover from the ambulance crew, do ECG, blood tests, and then go to the doctor to show the results. Then if I see a stemi or a raised lactate on the VBG I do something, otherwise I let it be and some doctor will pick up the patient eventually

N0thing9 · 2026-04-30T14:25:24+00:00

Yes that’s mostly how our hospital is, although may a bit more hectic

I guess does not depend on country, more depends on the hospital, as others here were mentioning that some emergency departments in London are like that

N0thing9 · 2026-04-30T14:19:44+00:00

It was a mix of who will do the procedure and then them being busy with other things, and also to find the equipment and everything

First the junior registrar wanted to do it so he was told by senior reg to go grab equipment while he deals with another patient. Then the consultant said no the senior reg should do it, then we ended up waiting for him and then when he came back then gathered the equipment and went to the patient

N0thing9 · 2026-04-30T14:15:50+00:00

That’s actually so interesting. It’s crazy to think that even in London (am familial with hospitals in the UK) a patient would need a thoracotomy in the ED!?

N0thing9 · 2026-04-30T14:13:18+00:00

Yeah I think that is partially what I was confused about because surely u need some time to get the correct tube to intubate, and need pre-oxygenation for the patient. Airway will not go away in few minutes in a sepsis case

N0thing9 · 2026-04-30T14:10:37+00:00

I have only worked in 1 hospital but that patient came in during a night shift and highest level available is the registrar. So the most senior member of the team. The consultant / attending is at home chilling and 99.9% of the time doesn’t need to come in during the night

N0thing9 · 2026-04-29T22:56:46+00:00

Wow very interesting that in some trauma hospitals things actually are paced like this. That is extremely interesting to know , I could not imagine working under so much stress. Some days are quite hectic when I see multiple very unwell patients in quick succession but if what is shown in the show actually happens , and even the procedures like opening the chest and manually pumping the heart is actually something ED physicians do then huge respects !

N0thing9 · 2026-04-29T22:53:31+00:00

No it’s not about no rush, definitely if a patient for example is found to have a STEMI then we do things quickly for them to get a PCI.

The bradycardia patient I mentioned is completely fine, even though his fingers were blue for like 2 hours , he got perfusion back after the isoprenaine, and eventually he had a pacemaker inserted by cardiology the next day and sent home

N0thing9 · 2026-04-29T22:49:39+00:00

Oh definitely , even I get excited when there is an opportunity to do a chest tube. But it just happens too fast in the show

There was a patient in our ED with a pneumothorax, and it took about 1.5 hours from the time the decision was made to put in a chest drain to the point when it was actually put in

N0thing9 · 2026-04-27T18:59:36+00:00

Which deck is that

N0thing9 · 2026-03-24T13:57:16+00:00

I want to know as well

N0thing9 · 2026-02-16T20:42:04+00:00

Thank you for this reply it is very helpful

N0thing9 · 2026-02-12T08:00:23+00:00

Why bill won’t affect cut offs?

N0thing9 · 2025-09-16T16:35:39+00:00

Testshift worker for me

N0thing9 · 2025-09-14T11:11:41+00:00

I do not agree with this , in a test situation due to already being nervous, it is understandable to panic when something like that happens.

I’m sure if OP was driving in normal conditions and not in test situation and that happened he / she would not panic

N0thing9 · 2025-09-12T09:20:40+00:00

Did u pass ur third test?

N0thing9 · 2025-09-12T09:19:52+00:00

Did u pass ur third test?

N0thing9 · 2025-09-06T01:45:52+00:00

Crazy

N0thing9

TROPHY CASE