Flu season again?

Well, the little respite we had for the last two weeks over the holidays is over.  The ER is packed once again with every type of patient:  the actively dying all the way down to the paper cut.  I don't know what it is!?  For some reason after the holidays, people are just banging down the doors to be seen in the ER.  On one hand we have people who are really, really ill.  Did they just hope that their illness would go away?  Or did they just try to ignore it to celebrate with the family?  On the other hand, our ER is packed with people that aren't really sick at all.  But for some reason, they decide that an EMERGENCY room is the place to go when they've "had stomach pains for 3 months and my doctor has given me every test and can't figure it out".  Well what the hell are WE going to do?  Or back pain for 7 months.  Or a cough for two years.  Why THIS weekend, people??? Why???  We have SICK people to attend to!

I apologize for my tone but I am so frustrated right now.  The last two days were absolutely horrible.  I've been yelled at, cursed at, told I was stupid, slow, and accused of not caring.  All the while my shirt is soaked with sweat, I haven't peed or eaten in 8 hours, I've started 15 IV's (with blood cultures), and listened to every patient tell me how sick THEY are.  I suppose they didn't notice the 15 other sick people waiting in the waiting room.  I've had people come in at 4 in the afternoon and then throw a fit that I won't feed them because they "haven't eaten all day!!"  Why is that my fault?  They've had all morning and afternoon to eat and now I'm the asshole because I won't stop my NURSING duties and get them something to eat.  Do you want the pain medicine you've been asking for for the last hour or do you want me to get you a fucking turkey sandwich?  Your choice.  

All the docs and nurses kept asking (when we were slow), "Where's the flu?  How come we haven't seen any flu patients?".  Today was a torrent of headaches, bodyaches, fever, etc, etc. All signs point to the flu but guess what?  Their flu swabs were all negative.  So some crazy virus (that is probably just a very virulent cold virus) is making its way through the populace.  The worst thing about it is that yes, it feels shitty, yes it feels like you're really sick.  BUT, it is a virus and there is nothing we can do for you.  We can give you advil and tylenol to get the fever down, we can give you fluids, we can let you rest.  Or, you can do all of this at home for about $2540 cheaper.  In your own cozy bed, with your fave jammies, watching your best comfort movie, and eating chicken noodle soup.  I don't blame these people for feeling a bit desperate because they feel so ill, but PLEASE, PLEASE don't come into the ER and yell at the staff that you are the sickest person and need to be seen RIGHT AWAY!  We are not impressed.  Are your lips blue and you can't finish a sentence?  I'm impressed.  Blood pressure in the toilet and heart rate sky high?  You're getting seen right away.  Rectal fever so high you are so lethargic and can't complain about the wait?  I'm carrying you to a room myself.  Have enough energy to come and yell at me about how sick you are?  Fuck you!    It frustrates me to no end that the people who aren't urgently sick will whine and complain and totally disregard the fact that their are people much sicker than them, waiting in the same waiting room, and demand to be seen first.  What, buddy?  You didn't notice the elderly lady, pale, having a hard time keeping awake, thats putting off heat like a baked potato?  You still think your cough for two weeks takes priority?  What about the 6 year old with the arm so broken it looks like "W".  Still think your cough is that important?  AARRGGHHHH!!!!!!

I need to calm down...  I think I've got serious job burnout.  One more rant and then I'm done.  This is a perfect example of the entitlement people think they have.  A patient comes in after falling off his bicycle.  He's got hip pain and it could possibly be broken.  Okay, I'm paying attention.  But the wife is all over us.  "He's an MD.  He's an MD."  She's calling all her doctor friends to get them to call us.  (By the way, he's a psychiatrist.)  While we are taking care of him our code system alerts.  It's a buzzing noise over the PA system and it alerts our ER docs and nurses that a patient is dying.  The code team drops what they are doing to attend to this patient.  Our hip patient's wife asks what the noise is.  I tell her, "It's a code.  Someone is dying".  She's quiet for a few minutes and then she asks, "When are they going to turn off that annoying noise?"  Man, I wanted to punch her.  I wanted to say "When the patient dies, they'll turn it off.  Will that annoy you less?".  Whatever happened to our humanity?  I feel like I'm losing mine...