The wonder of Emed

Stupid Things to do when you're already shagged:

We were all in the resuscitation area of the SGH A&E dept. A friend of mine (we'll call him Sam for privacy) had just finished placing a urinary catheter for an comatose female patient.

After meticulously observing an aseptic technique for the entire procedure, Sam stripped of his gloves in a sigh of relief. In the moments proceeding, the patient started to desaturate and began to twitch and shake violently. A decision was made to intubate the patient and everyone's attention turned to the drama at hand - all thoughts of the dirtied tray for catheterization were momentarily forgotten.

With the patient was successfully intubated, Sam industriously began to clear up the mess - with his bare hands...

Me: Hey, dude, gloves man... GLOVES!
Sam: *Odd look* Huh? this is dirty already... don't need glove lah *stares at his work*
Me: *um* dirty...dirty...dirty... precisely.
Sam: ohhhhhhhhh shitttt.....
Me: yeaaahh rigght.

The moment of realization was priceless.

In a similar incident which might not have gone so well, another one of my friends was recanting his flirtation with death. He nearly got a sharps injury from a HIV and Hep C positive patient. He was assisting in venipuncture when he was nearly stabbed by the bloodied needle. It came close enough to stick to and smear blood on his gloves. Thankfully, a water test later revealed that the glove had maintained its integrity.

Its a chilling reminder.
Please look after sharps!