EMS Calls at 0300

A common pattern in the ER is after the hour of 0300 is the stream of drunks, overdoses, or police admitted psych patients. Tonight did not let me down. Every time the ambulance radio went off we all would say our predictions and every time we were right. The drunk, the overdose, and psych patient all came in after three am. My favorite was the drunk as always. Over the call we could hear the moans and whines and groans of the patient. Seriously we laughed the whole time. Sure enough he came rolling through the door moaning just as loud and as obnoxious as ever. What seriously amazes me about these people is their in ability to function when they come. This guy could get his pants off but not put them back on again. He couldn't remember the name of his own mother for a while and had to look her up in the phone book. The pride of my generation right?!

This may make me sound mean but people try to overdose on the WRONG medications. I had a patient come in who tried to overdose on melatonin--the natural hormone that helps you to sleep at night. All we did was watch him sleep, granted he was an easy patient for those hours. If you are going to overdoes on purpose don't use melatonin!

Another highlight of our 0300 EMS calls is watching the paramedics stubble their way in. They all look like 5 year-old boys who had to get up too soon. Hair everywhere and rubbing their eyes. You can always tell when a paramedic was woken up to go on a call--they can't speak in full sentences. Oh how we love our paramedics.