Winning the Game

One in a great while, we manage to clear the board in the Emergency Department -- that is, discharge every single patient. This is known as winning the game. There are people who have worked in EDs for years and have never been there for the occasion.

Last night we won the game. Totally surreal. We celebrated by turning down the lights and having a party: funk playing over the PA system, the bar code lasers on glucometers for strobe lights, an oxygen tank with a nebulizer for a fog machine, and a Wood's lamp for a black light. It was amazing. Of course, we needed to document the occasion:

Then, about half an hour before the morning shift came on, we were back down to one patient in the department -- mine. "No pressure," said the attending. I ran back to the room, dressed the patient's wound, and we cleared the department again; we were able to sign out an empty board to the oncoming team. Of course, we had to get proof again:

I've never been in the ED for one of these, and I doubt I'll ever see it again twice in one shift. But I'll savor the memories forever....