The Glamorous Life of a Triage Nurse
/The Glamorous Life of a Triage Nurse
by Karen Kelly
Sometimes when I’m at work I feel like I’m in this alternate universe that people can’t even imagine. And this isn’t just in the ER, its anywhere in the hospital. I really feel like – if you haven’t been there, you can’t even imagine that the stories are true. And I’m not even talking about the crazy traumas or the kids with awful diagnoses. I’m talking about the mundane and ridiculous stuff – the stuff that lulls you. And then all of a sudden you go from laughing to getting hit in the face with a reality that catches you off guard!!!
We are constantly hearing about and thinking about germs, infection, bacteria, and viruses. We hear about how to protect ourselves and how to “break the chain of infection” by using precautions. I love the concept. But I always wonder if the people making the rules think about the reality. In all honesty, a good portion of my day is spent thinking about germs and protecting myself from them. Masks and gloves are my true BFFs! On a typical day working an 12-hour shift at triage, I check in about 60-80ish patients. To a non-nurse you might think “wow, that’s a lot of patients”! I think that too; but I also think “wow that’s a lot of germs!”
The triage nurse essentially sits in a cubical at a small 4x3 desk. There’s a computer, a phone and a lot of laminated signs on the cubical walls and on the desk. Across from me (about 3 feet away) is a single chair. That chair holds every patient that I see all day. Sometimes it holds the patient; or maybe the patient and the family; or the patient and their pillow or blanket that they brought from home. Very sweet – but on winter-flu season days, that sweet picture of a beautiful child with their “blanky” is clouded by all the germs I envision on those personal items from home! (It’s the nature of the beast – work with germs, obsess about germs).
So each family comes up, tells their story, and moves on. Some times we spend a little more time if we have to work a little harder to figure out whats actually bringing them in , or if they don’t speak English or they have multiple children to triage. But for the most part, they are in my world for about 5 minutes. And then they move on. And basically I “hand sanitize” in before I use my stethoscope to listen to their lungs, and then when we are done, I “hand sanitize” out – my hands, my wrists, (sometimes my arms) and my stethoscope. And then I sanitize the desk, the chair, the crevices of the chair, the arms of the chair, and anything that anyone may have touched!! It sounds like overkill, but wait…..
I was working at triage yesterday and a very active, very germy, very sick family came in. Not the kind of sick that should have been rushed right back to see a doctor; or even the kind of sick that should have been in the ER. But the kind of sick that if germs glowed… they would have lit up the room! And, they were doing an amazing job spreading those germs!! One of the kids was sticking his fingers in his mouth and then touching things; the baby was chewing on the desk and the little girl was coughing. So while I was triaging all the kids, I was telling Mom how important it was to keep the baby healthy. She was laughing at me when I told her to keep washing all of their hands and surfaces to keep the baby healthy. I really believed everything I was saying as I sat with my mask on with a desk protecting me. And then all of a sudden, as everyone was crying and coughing, the little girl vomited! All over the desk, and the chair, and the blanket and the Mom. I didn’t see it coming! I was so laser focused on the little boy with his hands in his mouth and the baby chewing on the desk, that I missed the signs!! Mom just laughed and said – now what were you saying about germs?? Ahhhhhhh.….disinfect, wipe down, disinfect, repeat!!