I'm tired: The ranting of an ER tech

At the end of another long day at the ER....
I'm the triage tech at a hospital.
The first person people see when they go to the ER, unless they come via EMS
and I work the graveyard shift
7p-7a
Needless to say I see a lot of stuff here...
So I'm just gonna vent a little;
I'm tired of people saying "I was here before that person but they went back first"
I'm tired of replying "I'm sorry but we treat people in order of severity, not order"
I'm tired of meeting people who are being destroyed by meds... because the first one caused a side effect
So the doc gave a script for that
and that gave another side effect
and so on and so forth
I'm tired of asking women when their last menstral period was
I'm tired of asking men if they have any penile discharge or testicular pain
I'm tired of people leaving their garbage in the waiting room
I'm tired of nurses getting an attitude with me for asking when the next bed will be availible because I have a waiting room full of sick patients who just want a time estimate
I'm tired of seeing obese adults who doom their children to the same fate
I'm tired of withholding the truth because it may hurt someones feelings
I'm tired of doctors and nurses giving out drugs for conditions that could be cured by proper diet and exercise
I'm tired of writing reports on abused minors and elderlies
I'm tired of not getting paid enough to deal with all of this
I'm tired of watching the news channels all night and hearing nothing on how Ron Paul broke the GOP record for donations in a single day
I'm tired of seeing the government poison my fellow americans
I'm one of the people who cleans up that mess
first hand knowledge of it happening
I'm tired of caring so much about people I dont know just to have them walk out without even saying thank you
I'm tired of seeing chemtrails in the sky and having sick kids come in all week afterwards
I'm tired of ranting
and venting
because its getting me no where...

Hey man, it good to vent. Man you have a hard job. I hope you have a nice sleep and get rested up. Good luck man and keep on keeping on bro!

I feel your pain, brother. I worked critical care for 20+ years. Triaging in the ER sucks.
When I triaged at a hospital, people would call in to complain that their back hurt. Trying to be an effective and thorough nurse, I would ask a multitude of questions to rule out the serious stuff only to find out 15 minutes into the conversation that they hurt their back 20 years ago and there's just nothing good on tv tonight and they're bored/lonely so they thought they'd call the ER and ask me what I'm wearing. ARGH!
That particular ER did take people on a first come, first serve basis regardless of severity. I would go pick up the chart of the next person to be seen, call their name and see some spry, healthy person step forward while the guy sitting next to him was literally ashen and about to fall out of his chair.
You sound burned out. It's a common caregivers ailment. I've been burned out for 25 years. If you don't feel like working, you just keep working til you do feel like working. At least that's what I tell myself everyday when the alarm goes off.
The secret to staying sane and out of drug/alcohol rehab or the nut ward is to not give a damn. I care deeply about people in general and their problems/conditions but I can't afford the luxury of caring about them specifically. I don't go to their funerals, I don't cry when they have some life shattering event, I just do my job efficiently and without emotion. I clock out at the end of the day and go home to pour out all my caring onto my family.
Hang in there, buddy. There's always truck-driving school.