Latest Real ED Stories from Australasia’s emergency departments
‘Despite everything she had been through she was still the most resilient 11 year I had ever encountered…”
Dr Jenny Jamieson worked with Medicin Sans Frontiers at Kunduz Trauma Centre in 2012.
While she was there she met an extraordinary girl who taught her some important lessons on resilience, endurance and hope. Continue reading Fatima — Dr Jenny Jamieson
I remember a time when I cared for a woman who was sitting at a bus stop and she was hit by a drunk driver… Continue reading We carry on — Bernadette Clarke
It was a Sunday evening, one of the junior doctors had asked me to review this fellows infection… It was Izzy, who had come to us many hundreds of times over the years, knocking on death’s door… in fact sometimes walking through death’s door. Izzy was a severe, brittle asthmatic. Continue reading Izzy — Prof Mike Ardagh
It’s very easy in medicine to become focused on the needs of the patient, but sometimes the needs of the family are as great, or greater. Continue reading Communication is key — Dr Steven Pincus
It was day three of our Everest Base Camp trek and a group of 16 strangers were getting to know each other… Then we heard a loud rumble, like someone shaking sheets of roofing iron. I felt dizzy and stumbled… only to realise that all of us were experiencing the same thing — the ground was moving under us. Continue reading Heart of the Quake — Dr Mel Venn
I cared for a woman who was about my own age, and she had children about the same age as my children… As a registered nurse working in the resus room, I was with that lady for her entire time in the ED. Continue reading A particularly hard day at work — Bernadette Clarke
Somebody somewhere has raised the alarm — reached out and hit the button hidden underneath the desk to summon salvation — but until they arrive it’s just you and your staff, and this demon. Continue reading Painting the floor with blood — Dr Michelle Johnston
Every time they lit the birthday candles they thought of myself and the anesthetist that had saved Mikey’s life… That one incident has always stood out to me as the reason why I do it and love emergency medicine. Continue reading A hundred birthdays — Prof George Braitberg
I stood up and walked into the resuscitation room to… prove my disbelief that what I’m thinking is actually what is happening. Continue reading Every Patient is Personal — Dr Hendry Sawe
What should I do now? It was after midnight. The patient wanted to go home to bed. I wanted to go home to bed. We all just wanted to go home. Some of the staff were saying, ‘Let’s just hold him down and put him to sleep.’ Others were saying, ‘Just let him go home.’ Continue reading A crucial truth — Dr Zafar Smith
Real ED Stories 