Evening star., 1954-04-19

door nanQle, ana IL merely spins IN MS
hand. He rolls the window down and
opens the door with the outside handle.
This time he slams the door hard and
il closes.
During the ride to the District Build
ing, the ambulance cab is draughty due
to a large gap in the door moulding
that the repairman failed to fix after
the last traffic miShap. The driver has
to pump the foot brake to build up
pressure so he can stop at the next red
light. We are travelling at Is m.ph.
now. On emergency calls we 60 much
faster and pray that others will look
out for us, because the front wheels
shimmy and hang on the streetcar
tracks and the driver has to down shift
into second gear in order to stop.
We get an emergency call on our two
way radio to see sick man who has
just had heart attack. We're on
amidst clashing gears, countless rattles
and squeaks. The thin wall OF the siren
can be heard through the crack in the
door. Our juggernaut gets us there. The
driver takes the f1rst-aid kit containing
emergency medicines and the intern
takes his black bag. Up three flights to
a poorly lighted cubicle In rooming
house. The sick man has indeed suf-
fered heart attack, and the driver
and intern must get the stretcher. Our
intern needs strong back here much
more than he needs brain. However.
we find him remarkably athletic for one
who has spent the last eight years in
college and medical school. The reason
for this becomes more apparent as we
follow him through his daily routine.
The next call is to see citizen
who has been drinking cheap wine to
the exclusion Of all food for four days,
and now finds he can keep nothing on
his stomach. This time the intern'S
brain is called on to function. Is the
citizen sick enough to warrant hospital
ization? Should his gastro-intestinal
system be rehabilitated in order that
he may be better able to repeat the
cycle; or should he be given a mild
Sedative and left to, continue his drink
ing?
The next call is to see woman who
tainted in a Streetcar. When we arrive
she is sitting in beauty parlor across
the street. and says she feels fine. The
intern is thankful; neither his brain
nor his Drawn is taxed this time.
We continue to shuttle from the Dis
trict Building. to the streets. to the
hospital, for "a hours. using three shifts
of drivers working eight hours each.
The intern doesn't work every day like
this. This occurs only every second
day, so his work week is only "a hours,
not 1853. Calls average up to IS per
day for our intern, ambulance, and
three drivers. But tomorrow our intern
can rest.
Now let us 60 to the admitting Office
and see what happens to patients like
the old man with the heart attack. We
find on duty three interns and an adj
mitting officer physician in the day
time and early evening. This force
gradually decreases to an admitting
officer and one intern during the small
hours of the morning. At all times,
day and night, there is an intern on
duty no farther than Is feet from the
door. If patient is bleeding from
major artery, is unconscious. or has
obstructed breathing, he does not have
to wait for attention. Less serious ILL
neSses are put aside for the moment.
Residents in the various Specialties
are on duty in the hospital to counsel
and aid the intern in diagnosis and
treatment. The operating room can be
readied for use in the time it takes
the surgeon to scrub for the operation.
The man who came in with stab
wound of the chest, collapsed lung,
and hemorrhage into the chest cavity
is saved by the swift action of a team
of physicians, nurses and orderlies. We
wonder If he would receive attention
as quickly at hospital where an intern
would have to be called to the emer-
gency room after midnight.
Does our patient need an emergency
TRANSMISSION? An intern attends the
blood bank after pm. to type and
cross-match blood for this purpose.
Regular technicians work only 40 hours
a week. There aren't enough funds to
hire technicians around the clock, seven
days week. The least desirable work.
ing hours, pm. to am. are
covered by the intern who. having
doubled as stretcher orderly on the
ambulance. must now triple as a blood
bank technician. Again stamina Is
required of the intern. In brief, wher-
ever a gap exists, an intern, whose
duties are flexible to the limit Of his
endurance, fills in. No regular salaried
worker can be required to work more
than 40 hours q week. We have passed
laws that do not permit him to be
thus abused without additional COM
pensation. But the physician Ii re-
sponsible for the patients welfare. II