These are our People

Close the Blinds

Kimmy

When I arrived at the hospital I was surprised how busy it was for a 6am shift. I got tossed around a few times before I finally found a nurse From my station.

She was average height. White skin, Brown hair at shoulder length and clearly overwhelmed. She looked way too relieved to see me. It made me a little sad to think of this young looking woman so stressed out and worried.

"Hi I'm Julie. I'm one of your RN's." She says as she rushes past me and motions for me to follow. She stops at the check in station and starts writing things on a glass board. Then turns to the office nurse. "Curtain two is going to need stitches. Can you page Doctor Martin for that please." She says going to walk away again.

The nurse stops her though. "Doctor Martin was paged to the OR!" She calls out

Julie pivots and mutters under her breath lifting a hand to her head she taps it lightly thinking it over. "Ok... send Doctor Keith to do the stitches and I'll do the evaluation on curtain 4 for him so he can do that and we can switch back to discharge." She says confidently.

The nurse nods and picks up a phone.

"Impressive." I say clapping lightly to her.

She chuckles. "Not really. That's basic. If you want impressive wait till you meet our head nurse Mrs. Rivas. Now that is an impressive woman. Quite the force to be reckoned with. She will also be training you for the most part." She says pivoting back to grab a clip board. She reads it over and smiles.

She looks at me for a moment then shows me the board. "What do you think?" She says.

I look over the chart and read about the patient. Teenage girl. Complaining of severe abdominal pain. According to her and her mother she is not sexually active.. but someone has written in a question mark on the chart. Urine test was taken and with it a pregnancy test that came back negative. And from the looks of it this girl has been here before. Quite a few times for UTI and other...issues.

I look to the nurse and her smirk tells me I'm ok to say what I really think. "I think someone should tell her to pee after sex and she'll get sick less. Then tell her about the free prescriptions so she doesn't get pregnant." I say handing it back.

She chuckles a bit before walking over and through the curtain. "Hello ma'am I'm nurse Julie. The nurses at the desk asked me to tell you There was an issue processing your insurance card at the desk. Would you mind sorting that out while I check her vitals? Then I'll wait for you to get back so I can look everything else over." Julie says sweetly.

"Oh.. Of course. I'm so sorry. I'll be right back sweetheart."

I watch as a very conservative looking white mother walks out of the cubicle and over to the desk. Without missing a beat the nurse listens shooting us a knowing look and proceeded to hand her some 'paperwork'.

I smile.

"Stacey, how many times have I told you to just tell your mom the truth." Nurse Julie says folding her arms. My eyes go wide. She knows her?!

"Hello Miss Julie." She says a bit irritated. Stacey is a very skinny girl. She is clutching her midsection in pain and looking very pale. Her blonde hair is pulled into a ratty mess on her head and she looks younger than she probably is wearing Alice in wonderland pajamas.

"I know your not listening to me but the pain is just going to keep getting worse. If you keep not taking your antibiotics after two days all your doing is building up your immunity." Julie says crossing her arms.