nothing is what it seems

No I wasn't on something when I wrote the last post, just tired.

Anywho....

In the ITS AS ANNOYING AS SHIT DEPARTMENT here at the madness blog I offer the following:

When an ambulance is coming in we get a call at the triage desk from a place called "medic control". Apparently this is the communications departments for the rigs in the city. So medics call them, tell them where they are going and what is wrong with the patient.  Then medic control calls us and gives us the following info:

1) Rig number
2) Age and gender of patient
3) What is wrong with patient
4) acuity level:  red - critical
                       yellow - stable
                       green -  minor -never should have called an ambulance
5) How far out the rig is.

Here is my complaint: When we get the call from medic control most of the time it is about a two word answer to what is wrong with the patient: "abdominal pain" "chest pain" "hip pain", etc.  Thats it.

The problem comes with what seems like a minor complaint: arm laceration, headache, foot injury, etc.
The triage nurse is thinking:  OK they can either go to urgent care or we can triage them and send them to the lobby.  The nurses in the back are thinking: Hey an easy patient. Yeah!

Most of the time it doesn't turn out that way. That arm laceration is a drunk who was found laying on the street bleeding. That headache is a guy with a trach, brain injury, g tube, foley.  That foot pain is a quadriplegic on a chronic vent who got their leg caught and possibly fractured during a transfer.

Why can't they give us JUST A LITTLE more information? Huh? Just a little?  I don't ask for much.

Nothing is ever what it seems in the ER.