#healthcare triage

[infinitemonkeytheory]

“RFK Jr. is claiming that scientists do not test vaccines with placebo-controlled trials, specifically against a saline placebo, and that all he’s asking for is that they are tested this way, as all other medicines are.

On its face alone, that probably sounds like a reasonable argument. I, too, would like vaccines to be tested in randomized controlled trials – and thankfully, THEY ARE.”

[cliffdog01]

Does caffeine make the voices go faster for anyone else? MandatoryFunDay

I drink Caffenr for Pain relief, and I’m a Graveyard shift worker (10pm to 6am, 5 nights a week +covers). 

Also, I Watched Healthcare Triage's videos that went into the Studies of Tea and Coffee, and there is no evidence that Caffeine has any long-term negative health effects. Sugar is terrible, so if you drink Energy drinks, make sure to get the Sugar-free versions (also from Healthcare Triage, no good nutritional studies are showing Sugar-free alternatives to cause any negative health effects) and try to remember to drink Water as well, mostly to nullify the Acidity of Fizzy drinks.

[roshni99]

One stop access to quality healthcare and wellness. Avail this from the comfort of your home or office. To know more visit https://www.raphacure.com or call our toll free no +91 95551 66000

[bittersweetblasphemy]

i never want to ever hear another dipshit say we can't do universal healthcare "bc wait times will be absurd" when i just spent 8 hours in the er waiting room.

[dirtychaiofficial]

So i decided volunteering at a local healthcare organization would be the safest way more me to get my foot in the door with healthcare but tell me why they fucking assigned me to the EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT 😭😭😭

[dranandhinduja]

Assess the Preparedness Regarding Triage Skills Amongst Emergency Medical Professionals in Pune, India

[talesfromthecripglobal]

I Want Them to Want Me Because I Will Need Them to Need Me But If That’s Not Going to Work, I Want a Lawyer.

Every time Gretchen saw the DNR forms on her desk at home, a wave of resentment rose. How did she know what it was like to use a feeding tube? Or a ventilator? Or have minimal brain function, for god’s sake? It was like asking an eight year-old to sign up for – or against – puberty. Choice was such bullshit. It wasn’t really her choice at all. The problem wasn’t too much extraordinary medical…

[infinitemonkeytheory]

The 2022 Shkreli Awards have been released! Each year, the Lown Institute passes out awards as a way of reporting on dysfunction in the US health care system. Dysfunction in healthcare is one of our foundational pillars here at Healthcare Triage, and these awards highlight some of the worst examples.

2022 Shkreli Awards

VIDEO: The 2022 Shkreli Awards, featuring guest hosts Dr. Uché Blackstock, CEO of Advancing Health Equity, and Amy Holden Jones, Executive Producer and Creator of Thre Resident.

JANUARY 10, 2023 — Welcome to the 6th annual Shkreli Awards, the Lown Institute’s top ten list of the worst examples of profiteering and dysfunction in healthcare, named for the infamous “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli.

Nominees for the Shkreli Awards are compiled by Lown Institute staff with input from readers of Lown Weekly. An esteemed panel of patient activists, clinicians, health policy experts, and journalists help determine the winners. (press release | previous winners)

#10

Dentist bags a bundle by breaking patients’ teeth

How did Wisconsin dentist Scott Charmoli go from fixing 434 crowns a year to more than 1,000? By purposely breaking patients’ teeth, according to federal prosecutors. Charmoli allegedly drilled into patients’ teeth unnecessarily and submitted photos of the damage to insurance companies to justify expensive procedures. This move elevated his salary by $1.1 million, according to the Washington Post. The scheme was uncovered when Charmoli sold his practice in 2019 and the new owners reviewed his files, noting the absurdly high rates of crown procedures. Charmoli was convicted of healthcare fraud and sentenced to 54 months imprisonment and over $1 million in fines.

SOURCE: Jonathan Edwards, The Washington Post; U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Wisconsin

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

Talk about supplier-induced demand! Oy, pass the laughing gas.

#9

“Dangerous” doctor deemed a star by leadership despite disgraceful malpractice record

Image caption: A February 1999 advertisement for CMC’s New England Heart Institute in the Boston Globe, featuring Baribeau. Source: The Boston Globe

Leaders of Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, NH knew their renowned cardiac surgeon Dr. Yvon Baribeau had one of the worst malpractice records in the country. Yet they continued to support Baribeau, featuring him in hospital advertisements and allowing him to keep operating over the objections of other CMC doctors, the Boston Globe reported. Examples of Baribeau’s alleged harmful behavior include surgical errors that led one patient to require blood transfusions of nearly five times her blood volume, and keeping another patient whose chest cavity had turned “black and necrotic” on life support as a possible ploy to protect his surgical 30-day survival rate.

Throughout Baribeau’s career, he racked up 21 medical malpractice settlements, including 14 related to patient deaths. In a statement provided by his lawyer to the Globe, Baribeau said, “I performed over 10,000 procedures at CMC, always with patient safety as my first priority.”

SOURCE: Rebecca Ostriker, Deirdre Fernandes, Liz Kowalczyk, Jonathan Saltzman, and Patricia Wen, The Boston Globe

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

The protection of doctors who are known to be dangerous is a national scourge that must be exposed and ended.

When a hospital administration puts “heads in beds” ahead of patient safety, it should be called to account—and not just by the media.

#8

Medical labs bilk Medicare for $300 million in elaborate bribery scheme

Three laboratories in North Texas allegedly found a way to score $300 million in extra Medicare reimbursements, the Dallas Morning News reported. In collaboration with two marketing firms, they bribed physicians to order unnecessary drug tests and blood work, according to a federal indictment. Some physicians got as much as $400,000 in kickbacks. In one case, even a physician’s spouse got an illegal bonus. The founders of all three labs pleaded guilty to the fraud in April 2022.

SOURCE: Aria Jones, The Dallas Morning News

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

Unnecessary tests and procedures are bankrupting us and harming patients. There is nowhere near enough coverage of this.

Unnecessary “care” is a huge part of the $1 trillion (that’s trillion-with-a-T) the US wastes in healthcare.

#7

Patients qualified for financial assistance; hospital sends them to debt collection instead

Nonprofit hospitals are required to provide financial assistance to low-income patients. Providence health system, however, did the opposite in many cases. Rather than ensuring that low-income patients received the financial assistance they were due, Providence hounded them to pay and sent debt collectors after them when they didn’t, according to a New York Times investigation. These actions were part of an official campaign to boost revenue called “Rev-Up” developed with help from corporate consultant McKinsey. The “Rev-Up” campaign directed employees to tell patients about financial assistance only as a last resort. The result: more than 55,000 patients were pursued by debt collectors when they should have been given a discount.

In response, a Providence spokesperson told the Times that they stopped sending Medicaid patients to debt collection, and said that they will issue refunds to about 760 patients eligible for assistance who were previously charged for their medical care.

*Note: The Lown Institute provided data to the New York Times about Providence Health System’s tax exemption for this piece.

SOURCE: Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Katie Thomas, New York Times

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

Large consulting companies like McKinsey are hospitals’ accomplices in revenue maximization.

Catholic hospitals have come a long way since the nuns of the Sisters of Providence provided services to the poor.

#6

When smokers get sick, this tobacco company has the treatment

Philip Morris has spent 175 years selling products that cause heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and other serious health problems. Now the tobacco giant is poised to make more money treating the very conditions it helped create by acquiring companies that develop inhaled therapeutics, according to a STAT News report.

Experts told STAT News they are concerned that Philip Morris could potentially use research on inhalation developed by these newly acquired companies to hook even more people on their products. But don’t worry—a representative from Philip Morris stated they have no plans to do so.

SOURCE: Olivia Goldhill, STAT News

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

When your corporation creates both the problem and the solution to it, you clearly care about one thing: finding and making profits by any means possible.

In the 1980s, the hospital I worked in still used machinery made and branded by Philip Morris to treat lung-cancer patients. This is NOT a novel abuse— it must be stopped.

#5

Pharma giant exploits bankruptcy loophole to avoid legal responsibility for cancer-causing product

Johnson & Johnson had known for decades that asbestos, a deadly carcinogen, could be contaminating their talc baby powder products but continued selling them anyway. Now J&J faces lawsuits from 40,000 cancer patients, many of them Black women, as J&J allegedly marketed its talc-based products specifically to this population. To avoid the lawsuits, J&J created a subsidiary company with all of the baby powder-related liabilities and then declared this shell company bankrupt, NPR reported. Despite this “bankruptcy,” J&J ranked in the top 50 of Fortune’s largest companies last year. The fate of J&J and the lawsuits await appeals. According to the J&J corporate attorney, the bankruptcy will benefit victims by producing a faster settlement.

SOURCE: Brian Mann, NPR; Casey Cep, The New Yorker

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

Especially egregious because of delay in acknowledgement at the expense of patients

Big Pharma has become an evil conspiracy against public health.

#4

Hospice CEO allegedly tells employees to hasten patient death to avoid caps on government reimbursements

Bradley Harris, the CEO of Novus Hospice in Frisco, Texas, and a dozen other Novus employees were sentenced to a combined 84 years in prison for committing healthcare fraud, according to D Magazine. The US Department of Justice reported that Novus staff were provided with pre-signed prescription pads and directed to dispense powerful medications like morphine and hydrocodone to patients, without guidance or oversight from physicians.

According to an earlier FBI investigation reported by NBC Dallas, Harris allegedly told employees to dose patients with more than the maximum allowed amount of painkillers to hasten patient death, with the goal of reducing the average patient stay to avoid caps on government reimbursement. The FBI investigation revealed that a Novus employee was allegedly sent a text message by Harris, “You need to make this patient go bye-bye.” It is unclear whether any patients were actually given overdoses or died from Harris’ instructions.

SOURCES: Will Maddox, D Magazine; US Department of Justice

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

This behavior is abhorrent, cold and heartless

Individual and corporate greed, meet well intentioned yet perverse financial incentives.

#3

System keeps community hospital on life support to cash in on drug discount program meant to serve the poor

Image caption: Richmond Community Hospital.

The 340B drug program provides safety net hospitals with deep discounts on medications to ensure access to care for low-income patients. Richmond Community Hospital in Virginia, owned by Bon Secours Health System, has profited heavily off of this program, yet they don’t have an intensive care unit, maternity ward, or even a consistently-working MRI machine. That’s because Bon Secours has been diverting the profits from Richmond Community to its other hospitals in wealthier, whiter neighborhoods, according to a New York Times investigation. “Bon Secours was basically laundering money through this poor hospital to its wealthy outposts,” said a former Richmond ER doctor.

A spokeswoman for Bon Secours Mercy Health told the Times the hospital system spent $10 million on improvements to Richmond Community Hospital over the past decade. But that doesn’t seem like much considering the $108 million expansion at neighboring St. Francis Hospital, a nearby Bon Secours hospital.

*Note: The Lown Institute provided data to the New York Times about Providence Health System’s tax exemption for this piece.

SOURCE: Katie Thomas and Jessica Silver-Greenberg, The New York Times

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

Skimming profits from the poor is the sleaziest kind of theft.

Care facilities are thin on the ground in low-income areas nationally, which makes this story even more painful.

#2

Private equity-backed firm runs rural hospitals into ground, leaves patients in unsafe conditions and employees without health insurance

When Noble Health, a private equity-backed startup, bought two rural hospitals in Missouri, residents hoped this might offer a lifeline to the struggling institutions. Instead, hospital employees faced shortages in supplies and drugs, leading to unsafe conditions for patients, Kaiser Health News reported. Noble Health also stopped paying for employees’ health insurance despite deducting money out of their paychecks that was supposed to be for premiums. Some staff members now face hundreds of thousands in medical bills because they did not know they were uninsured, according to Kaiser Health News. Noble Health closed the hospitals two years later, after taking $20 million in federal COVID relief funds. The company is currently under federal investigation.

SOURCE: Sarah Jane Tribble, Kaiser Health News

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

Private equity too often puts profits over patients, and is using the proceeds to swallow up the US healthcare system.

Private equity corporations are one of the biggest threats to healthcare quality and justice.

#1

Insurers systematically overbill Medicare Advantage, siphoning billions of taxpayer money

The majority of large Medicare Advantage insurers have been accused of fraud or overbilling by the US government, a New York Times investigation finds. Overpayments to Medicare Advantage insurers were estimated to cost taxpayers as much as $25 billion in 2020. Because the Medicare Advantage program pays private insurers a set amount per patient based on their risk, there is an incentive for insurers to “mine” patients for diagnoses—for example, adding diagnoses for old or resolved conditions.

While Mark Hamelburg, an executive at AHIP, an industry trade group, said to the Times that some coding differences were due to doctors “look[ing] at the same medical record in different ways,” some of the diagnoses were clearly inaccurate. In one case, insurer Independent Health added a diagnosis for prostate cancer to a woman’s record, because “when a married couple has any disease, both were assigned to that disease,” Bloomberg reported.

Among the top 10 Medicare Advantage providers by market share, the following have been accused of fraud or overbilling by the US government or Inspector General and have ongoing lawsuits as of 2022, according to the Times: UnitedHealth Group, CVS Health, Elevance Health, Kaiser Permanente, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Cigna, and Highmark. These insurers have disputed the claims.

SOURCE: Reed Abelson and Margot Sanger-Katz, New York Times; John Tozzi, Bloomberg

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

The overbilling of Medicare Advantage has become nothing but a big game that private insurers play. There are no rules, no morals, no sense of right or wrong.

The “advantage” in Medicare Advantage plans seems to go to the insurers who exploited Medicare for billions.

Weekly news for people who want a radically better health system

Judges for Shkreli Awards

Carole Allen, MD, MBA, FAAP

Immediate Past President

Massachusetts Medical Society (follow)

Special advisor to the president of the Lown Institute and lecturer at the George Washington University School of Public Health (follow)

Director of the Centre for Health Policy at University of Melbourne and senior fellow at the Lown Institute (follow)

Professor and chair emeritus at Duke University School of Medicine (follow)

Chair of the Lown Institute board of directors, former CEO of Denver Health

Assistant professor, NYU School of Medicine (follow)

Associate professor at Yale School of Public Health (follow)

Creator and showrunner,

“The Resident” (follow)

President of Physicians for a National Health Program and retired internist at Cook County Hospital (follow)

President of the Minority Health Institute, Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCLA School of Medicine, author of Blacks in Medicine (follow)

[theangrycorpsman]

Triage and Mass Casualty Situations: How to Prioritize Care in Emergencies

As a healthcare provider, first responder, or even just an average citizen, it’s important to be prepared for emergencies and mass casualty situations. One of the most critical skills you can have in these scenarios is the ability to triage patients effectively, prioritizing care based on the severity of injuries and the likelihood of survival. In this post, we’ll take a closer look at the…

[michaelwittig]

😷 Bei einem italienischen Künstler habe ich vorhin ein Werk anlässlich des italienischen Gedenktages für das Gesundheitspersonal gesehen. Das erinnert mich einerseits an den März 2020, als Militärlastwagen mit Särgen von Corona-Toten durch die norditalienische Stadt Bergamo rollten, zu dem Zeitpunkt das Epizentrum der Corona-Krise in Europa. Schockierende Bilder gingen um die Welt. Wir lernten die Bedeutung des Wortes Triage. Es erinnert mich zudem an eine kleine Fotoserie, die ich 2020 für eine für 2021 geplante non-profit-Kampagne für die Mitarbeiter in Gesundheitsberufen fotografiert habe. Leider ist das Projekt damals an einigen vor allem bürokratischen Unwägbarkeiten gescheitert. Die Fotos hat nie jemand gesehen. Eigentlich schade, darum zeige ich dank der Erinnerung mal was davon. #model @juuliaschwarz #makeupartist @sabinejonke 📸 @michaelwittigphotography © Gmunden 2020 #gesundheitsberufe #gesundheitssystem #healthcare #healthworker #nurse #krankenschwester #modernheroes #revisted #tired #debilitating #overtime #underpaid #coronavirus #covid19 #pandemic #bergamo #triage #dead #life #love PS: Die Aufnahmen sind kurz vor der verpflichtenden Einführung der FFP2-Masken entstanden. (hier: Gmunden An Der Traun, Oberosterreich, Austria) https://www.instagram.com/p/Co5cFEkMqXI/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[neysaadept]

heyyyy,

I LOVE your Emily fics and only just saw you’re taking requests!! Congrats on the followers.💗 I was wondering if you could do an Emily/Reader fic maybe with the prompts “they didn’t deserve you” and “why are you doing this”, (early days in the relationship) where it’s Christmas time and Emily mentions in passing how she always spends Christmas alone cause it’s too much to go to her parents and reader decides to surprise her by making dinner and bringing it to her on Christmas Day! Emily is confused because she’s never had this kind of care or treatment and reader says she deserves it ( maybe first time saying ily?)

anyways just an idea and NO pressure if it’s stupid lmao! Ily

thanks

Please let me know what you think of this. It got really carried away and I really hope you liked what I did with this. *hides*

Take a Chance

Emily Prentiss x Female Nurse!Reader

Tags - No use of Y/N, swearing, angst, fluff, meet cute, first Christmas. Minors DNI

Summary - Please refer to the ask for summary!

AO3

Word Count: 4.4k

As a nurse, you had few rules for who were out of bounds in dating. Doctors are a big hell no. Yes, it seems romantic and dreamy to fall for some sexy, brilliant, doctor but there is too much overlapping and fucked up hours to connect that things can fizzle out so quickly once you realize there is no compatibility. And god forbid you end up having to work with one another? So, so awkward after a breakup.

And yes, you’ve been there and done that. Never, ever, again. You moved out of ICU to have less contact with the intensivist, Dr. Vanessa Hyland, and the ER has been headhunting you for a while now. You took the opportunity and ran. It is a change of pace, but it had the same adrenaline vice that you crave working and triaging the unknown that walk through MedStar Washington Memorial that was close to the VA*.

Your exclusion list also includes paramedics, firefighters, police officers, and anyone in your department. You didn’t want someone that had similar bizarre hours as you and that you might end up seeing at work if shit hit the fan. Healthcare was a small world, and you didn’t need your exes in your immediate orbit.  You had enough drama at work and for the last year, the ER has become your work home and it has pushed you to pursue your license as a nurse practitioner. You had one year to go and were currently a resident.

You are career focused, intelligent and driven which currently made dating a low priority for you. Since the fling with Dr. Hyland fell through, you focus on yourself and enjoy being single since no one of genuine interest caught your fancy. And you stopped looking.

You didn’t realize your world was about to flip upside down when you knock on the window to Bay 3 in the ER and a deep voice said to come in.

That definitely didn’t sound like an Emily Prentiss to you. That must’ve been her partner speaking per the report given to you that he came along for the ambulance ride.

“Morgan, I can speak for myself …” came the snippy reply confirming your suspicions.

You pull the curtain back and take in the two feds in the room. The tall, dark, and muscular handsome fellow was hunched over the side rail before he saw you. “Hey, Doc. Mind telling princess here that she needs to behave?”

Your eyes dart to the woman on the cart who was squinting her best death glare at him. “I am behaving. I came here, didn’t I?”

With the concussion the female fed has, the bright lights of the room weren’t helping which made her glare pathetically cute. You turn the lights down, which the staff should have done in the first place.

“Better?” you say with an understanding smile.

She nods thankfully.

“Also, not a doctor. NP in training.” You walk in and introduce yourself. “So, shall I call you Emily or Agent Prentiss?”

She looks at you funny.

“Some feds have a stick up their ass about titles.”

“I definitely do not have a stick up my ass. Unless you count him?” She points a thumb at Morgan in all seriousness.

His face falls playfully with feign hurt, clutching at his chest. “Ouch, girl.”

“Hm,” you look thoughtfully between them and could feel the deeply rooted respect and love for these two partners. You decide to play along and return your attention to Emily. “Well, I’m sorry to say we don’t have a surgical consultant that specializes in that.” Then you wink. “I can always call security and throw him out if ya like.”

“Hey! Wait a second.” He lowers his hand accusingly. “You’re all not playing nice now.”

Emily chuckles. “I guess he can stay. He’s kinda my ride anyway.”

“Duly noted. Now, to business. May I?” You gesture to Emily’s head as you put on gloves. She nods and you start examining her scalp by gently running your fingers along her hair to smooth back to getting a better look. “The officer that was driving with you is doing OK. Same issue with head trauma after the T-bone. Do you remember hitting your head on anything before the airbags deployed?”

“Well, I was driving. Then we got the call on our suspect. Then we … we got the call on our suspect …” she shakes her head, wincing, trying to recall the memory before impact.

“Hey, if you don’t remember, it’s fine. I’m sure you know that. Doubt this is your first concussion?” You stop for a moment to make eye contact with Emily who rolls her eyes in affirmation. “Alright, well… you do have the start of a nice bruise here.”

You gently brush over the injury mid-scalp about halfway up from her left ear. “How’s the headache?”

“Pounding”, as she winces from your touch.

“Any nausea or vomiting?”

“No.”

“Dizziness or lightheadedness?”

“Nope.”

“Double or blurry vision?”

“A little. Tho it’s an improvement for Morgan’s looks.”

He whistles, shaking his head. “I’m letting that one slide since you’re suffering.”

You chuckle. “Alright, let me take a quick look at the rest of you. Anything else hurting that isn’t Morgan’s heart?”

That made her laugh as you pull the stethoscope over your head. “No. Nothing else hurts.

“Ladies, I’m starting to take offense now.” But he was all smiles.

You knew she suffered minor injuries from the ambulance report – contusions and small lacerations from shattered glass that didn’t require stitching. The officer on the passenger seat got cut worse being on the side of impact. You then listen to her heart, lungs and abdomen and palpate her stomach after making sure nothing was tender. Then did the same with her limbs testing neurological strength and any sore spots that may have been missed.

“Okay, Emily. Let’s get that CT done of your head.” You put the stethoscope back around your neck before placing your hands in your lab coat pockets. “If that comes back clean, I’ll release you home …” You see she’s about to ask a question you’re already anticipating. “… and no work until you’re medically cleared.”

She pouts rather prettily. You wish you didn’t notice. “And that also means no pretending to be cleared and going to work either.”

Morgan shakes his head and half smiles down at his partner. “Busted.”

“Had a feeling.” Morgan smirks between the two of you. “I’ll get those orders in.” You check your watch. “Should be done within the hour and we’ll go from there. If you need me, just call.”

Morgan steps around the bed to shake your hand. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” And you turn to look at Emily with a firm tone and playful eyes. “You behave.”

She huffs and settles back against the pillow, but Emily was fighting with a smile. To you it appears she was grumbling under her breath which was oh so common with law officials. When you leave the room, Morgan looks at Prentiss with a knowing look. In her state, she was genuinely confused. “What?”

“You’re making heart eyes with the nurse.”

“What? I … wasn’t. No way I was doing … whatever that thing you said I’m doing. It didn’t happen,” she says with a scowl.

“Heart eyes,” he reminds her.

 “Whatever,” she snips. “Has to be the head injury.”

“Uh huh.” He looks back at the curtains then at his partner. “She’s your type too …”

“I’m not having this conversation right now,” she says, stopping Morgan from talking further about the nurse that was definitely her physical type. Plus, you were clearly smart and had a fun side at the bedside that made her smile.

Morgan smirks, seeing the dopey look. He knows she’s thinking about you. “When you’re better, then.”

“I’ll probably won’t remember this stupid conversation then either.” She ends the topic by crossing her arms and looking away from Derek. A perfect model of a petulant Prentiss.

Emily does hates that he was right. The question that remains is if she was going to do anything about it after Morgan’s teasing that would inevitably come at a later date.

Two weeks went by since you discharged Agent Emily Prentiss and life went on. You were working a double today in the ER.

“Let’s get a bag of O neg going on Bay 2 and prep endo for a scope.” You put the orders in and use the inter-hospital chat through the EMR* with Dr. Aorsen who is the GI specialist on call. Poor patient had a bleeding ulcer.

One of the techs calls your name and you answer without looking up, continuing to type up the H&P* on the patient so there will be no delays in the procedure. You answer with a pen dangling between your teeth. “Yeah?”

“An Agent Prentiss is here to see you.”

The pen drops from your lips as you swivel your chair around to look at the disheveled tech in surprise. “Uh, what?”

You couldn’t have heard that right.

He throws a thumb over his shoulder and nods in confirmation. “Fed named Prentiss is here to see you.”

Your eyes dart around the room trying to figure out why she is here and come up empty. “Is she here by herself?”

“Yep.”

“O … kay. Yeah. I’ll see what she needs. Tell her I need ten minutes to finish something before I can see her. Thanks, Marc.”

“Kay.” He wanders off and you finish your necessary charting. You weren’t going to drop everything to speak with her just yet when a patient needs your attention. Though your mind couldn’t grasp why she was here. You sent over the medical report on Agent Prentiss to the FBI the same week you discharged her. Nothing was out of the ordinary in your report. She suffered a typical concussion and filled out all the workers’ compensation documentation for the feds. It was way worse than filling out the damn metro police claims, and it took over an hour to finish.

Once you have all the necessary orders and documentation for your patient to go to endo, you meander through the nurses’ station and down the hall to where Emily is waiting. She currently has her hands behind her back which shows off the gun holstered to her hip. The white button down was under a black blazer that made her professionally beautiful and it was nice to see her be more casual from the waist down with jeans and black work boots.

And then there you are in your navy-blue scrubs, lab coat, hair up in a messy bun, and a stethoscope hanging around your neck. She definitely looks put together and was easy on your tired eyes.

Emily is distracting herself as she waits for you by taking in all the scenery around her from laundry bins to rolling medical equipment. But when she sees you, she visibly perks up and shifts on her feet.

You wonder if Emily is nervous but that is ridiculous. You push that thought out of your mind as you smile to greet her. “This is a surprise, Agent Prentiss.”

“Ah, Emily’s just fine. This isn’t anything official.” She says it a bit too quickly that makes your brows raise up in question.

“Well, that’s good. I was wondering.” You look her up and down and see that’s she’s recovered nicely, even if she isn’t relaxed speaking with you. Her hands are still behind her back. “You look well.”

“So, do you,” she says a bit too quickly when your eyes narrow in thought to her response. “I mean … for working long hours are the ER. It’s not easy.”

Your head moves to the left in curiosity as to where this was going. “Definitely not, but I love it. Wouldn’t be anywhere else. Though …” you bring your arm up and slowly gesture towards back down the hall “ … I’m sorry to be abrupt but with patients waiting … can you let me know how I can help you, Emily?”

You see her look mortified at keeping you waiting and that is when her arms swing around to her front, one crossing her abdomen. She was definitely nervous, but it is unclear why.

“Yes, I did want to thank you and see …” She nervously licks her lower lip, and your eyes are inevitably drawn to the motion.

You were hanging on her next words. The moment between you is filled with the sounds of electronic beeps, a patient moaning in confusion, and then the old Batman TV show theme goes off alerting your hospital that an ambulance was calling in a patient on the emergency line affectionately dubbed ‘The Bat Phone’ by the hospital. That seemingly jolts her back from looking at anything but you.

“ … well, see … you,” she says bashfully.

Your eyes widen. “See me?” You sound as confused as you appear.

“Yes,” Emily confirms with a hesitant nod.

Your eyes dart upwards in continued bewilderment before settling on her hopeful-looking brown orbs. “Look, I’m a complete idiot right now. Why did you need to see me?” You smile brightly with encouragement.

That seemingly provides the necessary motivation to be direct. “Yes. Socially. As in … dinner …?” Though Emily did end the last part awkwardly and began to flick at her thumbnail that was lying against her thigh.

Now with Emily’s intentions clear, you take a step back in wonder. “You’re asking me … out?”

Seeing that you took a step back makes Emily frown, thinking you weren’t interested. “Well, I was …”

“And you came here. To ask me out.” Your continuation of confusion is making her slowly back up towards the exit.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I …” she loosens the hold she has on her stomach and gracelessly swings her arms as she is about to turn, and hits the linen cart, causing a pile of towels and washcloths to tumble onto the floor. “Oh my god! I am so sorry!”

She crouches down to pick them up as you do the same but sliding to your knees. This wasn’t your first laundry pile up in the ER. “Hey, it’s okay!”

“No, it’s not.” Emily’s pale face was flushing prettily, and it makes you smile. “I made a mess.”

“Sweetie, this isn’t even close to a mess in my ER. Ever drop a commode?” That makes her laugh and diffuses the tension between you a little, but she was avoiding eye contact with you.

You both work at cleaning up when the two of you end up grabbing a towel at the same time. There was a quick game of tug of war and that finally brought her eyes up to see you. She was nervous and expectant, ready to run off in a heartbeat.

You give her your answer. “Yes.”

Her head leans in with disbelief. “Yes … what?” She asks hesitantly, needing confirmation.

“Yes, I’ll go out with you.” And just like that, you broke your rule about dating officers. There was something enigmatically irresistible about her and Emily mustered the courage to come down to your place of work to ask you out. How sweet is that?

Emily is too fucking adorable as her face works through the shock of what you said. “Oh … kay.” She nods. “Good. I mean …” She grins wide and bright. “Great.”

You both remain on the floor for a couple of beats before you lower your head, eyes studying Emily with a coy look. “Does this mean I can have the towel back?”

She busts out laughing and finally lets go.

That was a little over a month ago and you found out on your first date that it was her partner, Morgan, that helped talk Emily through her concerns. She explained how he was not just a good friend but was also like a brother to her. You were happy that Emily took this chance, and it was the happiest time of your life. You never thought that you’d find a partner that was able to understand the demands of your job and education by someone not in healthcare. Emily’s job is mentally, physically and emotionally draining like yours and despite the differences in careers, you understand the depts of humanity. Emily saw the worst of it and tried to bring the criminals to justice or at least provide closure for the victims and families. You do the same in your own way trying to save as many lives as you can as well as being the one to break bad news to people who loved your patients fiercely. You also saw the worst in a different way – shootings, stabbings, rapes, protests gone ugly. You and DC metro had a lot to talk about a lot of time. But the times you make a child smile when feeling terrible, or provide information that eases the mind of a patient that was so scared of why they were sick, or even the simple bedside talk to show you were a human being that truly cared, it was worth all the shit you dealt with.

But in between the long hours and when Emily was out of town, you make time for one another. Simple dinners, going out to the movies, long walks discussing nothing and everything, but the best was when Emily took you to the Smithsonian to see the staff carefully place a Santa hat on the life size brontosaurus display since Christmas was just around the corner. You didn’t even know they did that, and Emily was so pleased with herself at seeing your face light up in wonder. You of course took a selfie together after it was placed, but it ended up being at an awkward angle where you both were laughing as you were pointing to the dinosaur.

When you weren’t together, you had long talks over the phone and constant texts when Emily was on a case to make sure she was doing alright, which she did for you too! You both cared about your workaholic selves and kept reminding each other to take a break, eat and drink more than just beer when off the clock. Emily was able to keep work at work when in the moment with you but you could hear the weight of Emily’s job straining her voice. A hint of raw insight to her true feelings. You never push. Your relationship was still new, and you both were still learning one another.

When Christmas came, you were coming off a sixteen-hour shift that started right before 7am Christmas Eve. You were exhausted, the status quo for any resident, but you were also determined. This was your first Christmas with Emily, and you wanted to make it special. She admitted that the relationship she has with her mother is complicated and didn’t need, nor want, to show her face at one of her mother’s extravagant Christmas parties. Emily would just be shown off for propriety’s sake. It was easier being home alone with leftovers that Rossi made on Christmas Eve of pasta, seafood, and amazing Italian beef and sausages right after midnight. Between that, the homemade cookies gifted to her by Garcia, and a six pack of Stella bottled beer, Emily settled in for the day watching Die Hard because it is, and always we be, a Christmas movie. If you wanted to disagree with her, Emily was ready to fight.

By mid-afternoon, John McClane is crawling through the air vents and iconically complaining about ‘Come out to the coast, we’ll get together, have a few laughs…’ line when there’s a knock at Emily’s door. This confuses her because she wasn’t expecting anyone and you were at the hospital working. You told her that this morning over the phone during a break that, unsurprisingly, the hospital was short staffed, and they needed you. She put down Garcia’s festively colored frosted chocolate cookies and went to see who it was.

Which is why when she looks out through the peephole of the door, she gasps and quickly starts unlocking the door. She holds out her arms in surprise at the sight of you and speaks an octave higher in greeting. “What are you doing here?! You said you had to work tonight!”

She was all smiles seeing you … and you weren’t wearing your work clothes. You have on jeans, an ugly Christmas sweater that said ‘Fabulously Grinchy’ and arms full of bags. Emily was distinctively not festive on purpose with grey shorts and a baggy Yale sweatshirt. Even the black slippers were humdrum. It empowers you to see this and that you made the right decision to surprise her this way.

“Well, I lied,” you explain as she takes some of the bags from you. “Surprise!”

She steps aside to let you in and smells the familiar scents of pasta, sauce and bread. “What did you do?” she asks cautiously.

“I made Christmas dinner for us.” You beam, spinning around carefully in the living room with your arms out to display the bags. “Just need to warm it all up.

As you really did have to work long hours at the hospital, you enjoyed Skyping with your parents who lived of town while making homemade manicotti. It was your tradition to cook together, and it was nice to do it together this way. Thankfully you still had some frozen homemade pasta sauce that you could use and not be considered a heathen to your family because no daughter of theirs was going to serve their girlfriend pasta sauce from a jar.

“Oh my god,” she says your name and follows you quickly into the kitchen, trying to catch up. “You … you really didn’t have to go through all this trouble. And, really, why are you doing this? You’ve gotta be so tired after working a long shift. You should be relaxing.” Emily knew you did work today since she heard the intercom and all the various beeps, whirls and whistles of a hospital.

You left the bags on the island counter and start fiddling with the oven controls. “Eh, I’ve had worse.” You smirk over your shoulder. “So have you. Therefore, we deserve a nice Christmas not alone. Now. … ” you start looking for oven mitts and utensils by pulling out drawers and opening cabinets. You’ve been here once before and don’t have the lay of the land yet where Emily keeps everything.

What you didn’t know is that Emily is standing by the island counter with a firm grip on the edge because she is feeling a powerful rush of affection for you and a profound sense of guilt. She swallows hard and almost jerks with her movements in trying to find words to address you.

“Hey, Emily? Where’s the spatula? I don’t need to whisk anything, and you got like, three of them here.” With no answer, you turn around with the whisks in hand and a goofy smile which soon falls into a look of concern. Emily was staring at you with watery eyes.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” you ask, quickly setting aside the whisks that roll around the counter. One drops and bounces off the floor, but you don’t care. You place your hands around Emily’s shoulders and rub soothing circles. “Talk to me, please.”

Her face scrunches to the side, still struggling with guilt. “You shouldn’t be doing this. You’re tired. You should be sleeping. Or resting. Or just –“

You cut her off by gently cupping her face. Your thumbs continue their gentle stroking along Emily’s cheeks. “If I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t be.” You smile with sincerity. “Only place I wanna be.”

“Fucking sap,” she says, curling her hands around your forearms. You both naturally bring your foreheads together in that moment and feel Emily’s shaky inhalation of breath. “I don’t deserve this.” She feels the need to clarify. “You.”

You close your eyes and ask nonjudgmentally. “Why?”

“Because I’m gonna mess it up. I always find a way to do it. Even if it’s not exactly me.” She sighs. “Like work, or my mother…”

“Hey, don’t do that.” You bring your hands down while lifting your head to gaze into Emily’s eyes. “Anticipating. We just gotta take it day by day and right now, I feel, that this is a good one.”

“Yeah?” she says quietly, licking her dry lips.

“Yeah,” you confirm, bringing one of her hands up to gently kiss. What you’re about to say you feel in your heart and it has been growing for the last week. Perhaps it was too soon to say it, but Emily deserves to know how you feel and that despite this being new, this was a relationship you were determined to see where it takes the both of you. “Maybe if I give you one of your presents, it’ll help you feel better?”

Her eyes look along the ceiling while she chucks. “Maybe.”

You lean forward and cup her cheek, gently caressing it until you lock eyes. “I love you, Emily Prentiss.”

Her audible gasp at the admission is swallowed by your lips gently kissing hers. The kiss was soft, a silent signature of proof to the words already spoken. It is affirmation that you want to be here with Emily, and you feel her free hand slide around your waist as she steps closer. The press of her body forces a sigh from your lips which makes Emily smile against yours.

“I love you, too.” She confesses quietly, pulling your joined hands against her chest. “And it scares me.”

“Well, here’s the good news.” Emily pulls back to look at you, brown eyes equally fearful and exhilarated, as she waits for what you must share. Your smile helps to ground her. “We get to be scared together.”

She laughs as a couple of tears fall free and you reach up to wipe them away. As she leans into your touch, Emily asks you a question since she has doubts about this gift of yours, no matter how much she treasures it. “Was that really one of my gifts?”

“No,” you admit and kiss her forehead. “But it’s all true. Consider it a bonus.”

Emily looks up to you with a smile that lights up the entire room. “Mm, I do like the sound of that,” she says before capturing your lips once again.

*Vetarans Affairs

*EMR - Electronic Medical Record

*H&P - History and Physical

[fuck-customers]

So y’all know how when you go to a clinic you usually end up waiting 30+minutes past your appointment time, and you get upset because you probably received a dozen notifications beforehand telling you to arrive early or else? Yeah, lemme give you a peak behind the curtain real quick. Spoilers: it’s management obsessing over money

So at my company, appointments are automatically only fifteen minutes long, but we have the opportunity to edit appointments to be thirty minutes long instead of fifteen, which we usually end up doing because of a mix of chronic understaffing (like only two people per clinic levels) and the fact that a lot of people need more than fifteen minutes to be taken care of, even for “simple” things like runny noses. Management doesn’t like that, though. See, going from fifteen to thirty means going from four patients (or customers in their words) to two, therefore half the money.

So they call us lazy, tell us we’re “triaging” and “pre-diagnosing” and will literally stop us from doing our jobs to make us explain every individual thirty minute appointment or added break. They also frequently change our equipment, our policies, our workflows, and don’t tell us until after, so we have to learn things on the fly or play catch up. Nearly 100% of these assholes have no medical degrees or certifications, and several of them have openly told me they’ve never worked in healthcare before

So yeah, next time you’re stuck in a lobby for an hour past your appointment, know it’s because someone without a degree gave the people with degrees garbage cans masquerading as medical equipment and told them to (for HIPPA’s sake know these are generic examples and not specific patients) sew together someone’s grandma’s face in fifteen minutes (we can’t, so you get pushed back) followed by seeing a car crash survivor in fifteen minutes (we can’t, so you get pushed back) followed by some traumatized three year old with a UTI in fifteen minutes (WE CAN’T, so you get pushed back), etc.

We’re trying y’all, but we just get punished for it and your wasted time means nothing to management’s money

I'd always just assume it was the bean counters that quadruple the appointments to squeeze more people in at a time for max profits.

My Rheum is especially bad about that. You get there the "mandatory" 15 minutes early, they'd call you back 2 hours past. Leave you in the room alone for another 45min to an hour, then take your vitals and after another 2 hours he walks in says "everything looks good and I'm sending in your refills." and walks out and it's over.

30 years of it and the supermarket still gives me grief when I take the whole day off. "You don't need the whole day for a 15 min appointment." Like they have never been to a doctor. My Rheum is the only one on my insurance for 350 miles. So...

-Rodney

[writing-for-marvel]

Triage

[He’s Hazardous To My Health Series]

Paramedic!Bucky Barnes x Resident!Fem!Reader

Series Masterlist | PART 2 > >

Summary: A slightly reckless and exceedingly charming paramedic carries a young girl into your ER, proving that not all superheroes wear capes.

Warnings: strictly 18+ due to the AU, set in an emergency room, I am not a healthcare worker and my medical knowledge is limited to what I’ve seen in Greys Anatomy lol, incident where people are injured from a derailed train, mentions of wounds & surgery & loss of life, injuries to a young child, needles & stitching, my terrible attempt at writing flirty banter

Word count: 3.2k

A/N: based off the winner of this poll, we say hello to paramedic!Bucky ❤️ this is my first entry for the Connect 4: Into an Alternate June-iverse Event by @buckybarnesevents, fulfilling the prompt ‘First Responder AU’. Thank you to @rookthorne who looked this over for me and gave me the confidence to keep writing it 🩵 banners by @vase-of-lilies

Main Masterlist | Ask me anything! | Taglist | Library

“Incoming trauma. Train collided with a car and derailed. First wave ETA three minutes.”

At the moment your director of emergency medicine announces the tragedy and flood of imminently arriving patients, the televisions in the emergency room switch to breaking news - a presenter, wearing a solemn expression, speaks as a split screen shows what you can only describe as a colossal catastrophe.

The ER becomes silent as all eyes focus on the screens, only the rhythmic beeping of the pulse oximeters cut through the silence, a heavy weight blanketing the room as the realisation of what you’re seeing sets in.

You can’t hear what precisely he’s saying, but you can’t bring yourself to look away whilst watching the live chopper vision of smoke billowing from the train laying unnaturally on its side, barely any movement from the scene makes you wonder if anyone could have survived the incident.

The three minutes before the ambulances arrive go by in a flash, feeling like you hardly have time to mentally prepare for the extent of injuries and potential loss of life you will be facing. Then, almost in an instant, as if flicking a switch, chaos in its purest form descends upon the emergency room.

You watch on as paramedics and firefighters wheel patients in on gurneys, one by one filling up the limited trauma beds in the ER. Dr Stephen Strange directs medical personnel, making sure each case is assigned to an appropriate physician, the more serious injuries bypassing trauma intake all together and heading straight towards surgery.

Your eyes land on one man in particular between the sensory overload of people - tall, broad shoulders with long chestnut hair, carrying a young girl with one strong arm as he pushes a gurney with the other. Who you can only assume is the girl's mother, is unconscious and has blood staining the roots of her long blonde hair. Your heart aches for them as she’s handed over to the surgery team in wait, and even though the ER is filled with many conflicting loud voices, you hear the high pitched cry of the young girl for her mommy. The paramedic, now with his second arm free, pulls her into his chest before making his way to one of the trauma beds.

“You!” Dr Strange’s voice pulls your attention back to the fray and you find he’s pointing directly to you - you’ll forgive him for forgetting the name of a new resident during this moment of crisis. “The young girl with Barnes, she’s your responsibility.” That’s all the instruction he has time for before moving onto the next resident.

As you make your way through the maze of people towards the young girl, your mind flashes back to the footage of the wreckage and how grim it appeared. It seems like a miracle that this young girl is conscious and looks relatively unharmed with the exception of a few abrasions.

“I’m the one who brought her in, she’ll be all alone while her mother is in surgery, all I’m asking is to stay with her while she gets examined.” The well-built paramedic, Barnes, argues with your head nurse, pride and admiration swelling warm in your chest - he’s standing up for a scared, young girl who can’t voice what she needs right now.

“That’s perfectly fine.” You cut in, knowing Christine is a stickler for protocol and would never allow non-family members to stay with patients, even in dire circumstances. If there is a time to bend the rules slightly, you figure this is it. “I think she feels a lot more comfortable with you here anyway, isn’t that right sweetie?” The young girl nods her head, little hands reaching out to grab hold of the paramedics’ large one, eyes brimming with frightened tears.

“Thank you.” He mouths as Christine storms off to deal with the many other patients that require her attention. Your focus now switches to the precious girl in front of you - no matter how hectic the ER gets, how devastating the incident is, your thoughts need to be directed solely on her care, and not ogling at the attractive EMT who is currently soothing her.

“What’s your name, sweetheart?” You ask the scared, little girl, but not before offering your own as a sign of good faith. She looks up to Barnes for reassurance before answering.

“Sasha.” She confesses with a small voice, partially hiding her face in the broad paramedic’s arm as she does so.

“Okay Sasha, I’m here to check you over, help patch up these cuts and make sure you have no other injuries so we can get you up to see your mommy as soon as possible. Can I do that for you?” She nods her head, sitting up a little straighter in the bed all the while maintaining a tight hold on Barnes’ hand.

“Can you tell me who your friend here is, Sasha?” You ask as you start your examination, feeling the medics’ pair of eyes watching you intently, something more than just concern for your patient's well-being has heat creeping up your chest to the tips of your ears in silent attraction.

“Bucky. He pulled me from the train.”

“All by himself? Wow, he must be super strong to do that.” You glance up at Bucky to find him staring at you with what you hope is a mixture of captivation and endearment. He offers an enchanting smile, making butterflies, which have no right to exist in an emergency room, flutter in your stomach.

“He also got my mommy too.” Sasha adds, you suspect with the youthful intent to impress you even more.

“As well!” You say in a dramatic tone which makes her beam a proud smile that she did in fact amaze you. “Sasha, I think you got rescued by a real life superhero.” You continue in a staged whisper that not only has Sasha giggling, but brings a flush to Bucky’s cheeks. The bashful blush only makes him more attractive in your eyes.

As you continue your examination, cleaning and bandaging all lacerations, keeping Sasha distracted by asking about her favourite activities and animals, you can progressively feel her opening up and trusting you more. From your experience, it can be difficult to earn a child’s trust when they are in such a foreign place, surrounded by strangers, and in particular in this scenario, when a parent isn’t around. Having Bucky, whom she formed a bond with as soon as he rescued her from the train, stay by her side through the ordeal, has been to both your benefit.

Once you cleaned all her cuts, making sure Bucky held her hands so Sasha could squeeze when the disinfectant caused a sharp, stinging sensation, you begin examining her stomach, prodding her abdomen for any signs of tenderness.

“Does that hurt, Sasha?” You enquire when she flinches and whines at your touch.

“Yes, right there.” You're proud she trusts you enough to admit that, though now concerned about potential internal bleeding. You need to act fast, but you don’t want to instil more fear in her given she’s already had a large dose today.

“Okay, it’s nothing to worry about yet, but I’m going to order you a scan so we can see what’s going on in your tummy.” Your eyes flick instinctively to Bucky, to provide some consolation in a time where you’re both worried about the young girl you’ve both become attached to in such a short time. You see the considerable concern furrowed in his brow soften when his eyes meet yours.

“Will it hurt?” Sasha’s frightened voice breaks your heart - she’s had to endure enough pain and suffering for the day, watching her mother cling to life in an ambulance, you’re desperate not to add to it.

“Not at all, it’s as painless as having your picture taken!” You explain, watching the alarm melt from her features, and feeling the tension in Bucky’s shoulders relax simultaneously. “All you have to do is stay really, really still, can you do that for Bucky and I?” The notion that there is a Bucky and you makes something in your chest buoyant.

“Yes!” She promises without missing a beat and Bucky squeezes her small hands with a relieved smile.

When Sasha’s attention turns to the nurse whose job it is to take her up for the scan, you notice Bucky discretely wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. He says a sweet goodbye before she’s wheeled away, knowing this is where a paramedic and hospital patient part ways. Sasha enthusiastically waves back to both of you as the nurses wheels her away, not stopping until they turn a corner and she’s completely out of sight.

Bucky clears the lump in his throat before stating, “I think it’s my turn to leave now.”

“Don’t think I can’t see you wincing every time you move. Sit your cute butt down, you aren’t going anywhere till I check you over too.” You say as you finish completing the form to refer Sasha for the CT scan, missing the downright cheeky smirk plastered on Bucky's face.

“You think I have a cute butt, huh?” You can hear the smugness in his voice and you have to fight the corners of your mouth from upturning in a smile. He does have a cute butt - not that you’ve been staring - but you’re certainly not admitting that to his gorgeous face.

“Not the point - now, shirt off so I can take a look.” Finishing your paperwork, you finally look up to notice his cocked head and flirty smile. Having studied long hours in med school and worked even longer hours all last year as an intern, you recognise it’s been a while since a stranger has looked at you with this level of desire.

“At least buy me dinner before you ask to see me naked.”

“I’m a doctor, I’m sure it’s nothing I haven’t seen before.” You challenge, even though you’re positive his strapping frame, which fills out his uniform completely, will be even more impressive without a shirt. You have to swallow the saliva forming in your mouth so you quite literally don’t drool at the thought of his unclad body.

“Why don’t we find an on-call room and I can prove to you it’s not.” He teases in a low, alluring voice and you have to bite the inside of your cheek to stop yourself smiling like an idiot - it, however, does not stop your face from warming like a heating pad. It’s infuriating how beautiful he is, and it’s definitely criminal to act as cocky as he is right now.

“Only if you let me patch you up first.” You bargain.

Bucky finally concedes, unbuttoning and shrugging off his uniform shirt to reveal a wound in his side about the length of a teaspoon which is still trickling blood. The tightening concern which overwhelms your body at the sight of the gash, which is much worse than you predicted he’d be concealing and will require stitches, distracts you from the allure of seeing his shirtless chest.

You shake your head, knowing he would have been fully aware he was injured since pulling Sasha and her mom from the train, and in an incredible amount of pain, but waited until others received treatment before allowing himself to be tended to.

“You should have told me about this.” Tentatively you place gauze over the cut, gently applying pressure to stop the oozing but not firm enough where he’s in pain. You can feel his attentive eyes following your every careful move, and maybe it’s just your imagination, but you swear you can hear his breath hitch in his throat and feel his thumping heartbeat quicken as your hands graze his bare skin.

“There are many people in need of more urgent care than me.”

You look up at him from your position tending to his abdomen to find his face intimately close to yours. You can’t help yourself, being this close to him, but your eyes flicker to his lips, noticing a faint scar along his top lip you could only perceive by being this close.

“That doesn’t mean you don’t deserve it at all.”

Bucky gazes deeply into your eyes with a vulnerability which makes you doubt whether anyone has ever appraised him that he is worth taking care of. The thought feels like a punch to your gut.

“It’s relatively superficial, I can look after it myself.” He attempts to brush you off. If this weren’t your first time meeting the guy, and you didn’t feel like you were overstepping by protesting, you wouldn’t let him dismiss you so easily. “Can’t you overlook protocol this one time and give me the okay to get back out in the field? We are still looking through the wreckage for survivors, need all hands on deck” He flashes you wide, puppy dog eyes which have you melting at the knees. You suspect this isn’t the first time he’s used this ploy to get what he wants.

As if he can sense your resolve dissolving the longer you look in his mesmerising eyes, he starts to stand. But no, you aren’t going to let those ocean blues and infectious smile stop you from doing your job, and showing Bucky that his well-being is just as important as anyone else who came into the ER today. Placing your hands on his bare, broad shoulders, you push him back down onto the bed.

“You won’t be able to help anyone when you’re back in here with sepsis because this wound got infected.” You comment as you prepare the suture kit and implements you’ll need to first clean out the wound.

“At least that way I’d be able to see you again.” He jests, before sharp intake of breath as you begin disinfecting and debriding the laceration.

Even though you realise he’s joking, hopefully only about not taking care of his wound properly and not about wanting to see you again, you suspect there’s a small sliver of truth he’s hiding. There typically is a grain of truth in every joke - he seriously would have returned to the scene without receiving treatment if you hadn’t stopped him, twice.

“You don’t need the excuse of a life threatening illness to see me again. In fact, I would prefer it that way.”

Bucky eyes you with fondness as you finish up washing out his wound, even through the sharp sting and you expressing your disapproval of his careless actions. You’re not sure what you’ve done to deserve the warmth in his gaze, but you enjoy it nonetheless.

Once the area is numbed, you can instantly sense the ease which overcomes Bucky at no longer being in discomfort. Though the grunts and groans that slipped past his lips were rather sexy, you much rather seeing him in an absence of pain.

The two of you stay in comfortable silence as you lend all your attention to the placement and execution of each stitch, knowing that if you do a good enough job, a wound this size will heal to an almost imperceptible scar. Though it’s difficult, you restrain your focus from how the taut muscles of his stomach flex as you're working.

“Alright, almost good as new.” Is what you comment once you’ve thrown the last stitch and placed a bandage over the area. “You’re ready to get back to being a real life superhero.” You tease, knowing the effect the word had on him last time. You’re pleased to see that same blush bloom lightly over his high cheekbones.

“Thanks for lookin’ after me, doc.” Bucky shows his gratitude with a lopsided smile you could get so used to basking in. As he buttons up his shirt, you allow your eyes to linger on his clearly defined abs for a second before they’re covered over. He really has no right to be as gorgeous and charming as he is. “And for being such a bright light in what has otherwise been a very dark day.”

“Same to you, Bucky.” Guilt eats away at a small part of you that during what is for a lot of people in this hospital such a tragic day, you’ve instead actually enjoyed the company of a cheeky paramedic.

“Take care of Sasha for me, won’t you?”

“She’s in the best hands.”

“I don’t doubt that for a minute.” He says with a tone which makes you think he’s only referring to you, when you were in fact meaning the entire hospital staff. Your heart flutters at the implication.

When neither of you say anything more, silence lingering for an almost awkward length, Bucky turns to leave. Even though you know you eventually must part ways, your heart aches that the end has seemingly come so soon. Luckily, you have a reason to call him back and spend an extra moment together.

“Hang on, you need to sign a release form before you’re allowed to go.” You say, hand brushing his as you provide a clipboard and pen, a shiver running up your arm which you hope Bucky doesn’t notice. If he does, he doesn’t mention it as instead he quickly surveils the document and chuckles.

“If you wanted my phone number, all you had to do was ask.” Damn him and that cheeky, smug grin you’re already falling for.

“This is purely protocol.” You counter, wanting to take his cocky persona down a peg. Bucky simply smirks, as if he can easily see through your half-truth like glass.

“So you’re telling me you don’t want my number?” He challenges, and though you don’t want to admit he’s won this back and forth between the two of you, you’ll consider yourself a winner as long as you come away with a means of contacting him after today.

“I didn’t say that.”

He hands you back the clipboard, a corner of the sheet torn off with his number scribbled specifically for you to take. You try not to look too desperate by taking the note immediately and putting it in your pocket as you plan on doing as soon as he isn’t watching you.

“The next time I see you, I hope we won’t be in an emergency room.” The suggestion there will be a next time makes giddiness rise in your chest as if you’re a schoolgirl with a crush.

“Don’t count your luck, James.” You tease, having spied his true first name on his patient form. “I haven’t called yet.” You try to sound calm, even though you can feel your heartbeat quickening the longer those captivating blue eyes regard your every move.

“I have a feeling you will, even if it is just to tell me Sasha’s pulled through alright,” Bucky pauses, slowly leaning in so you have a perfect view of his exquisite eyes, and his dilated pupils, as he lowers his voice. “Or for a rain check on that on-call room rendezvous.” He calls your bluff before flashing what you’re now sure is his signature smirk, leaving you with a fluttering heart and butterflies in your stomach.

As you watch Bucky walk out the exit of the ER, turning to shoot you a wink before the door closes behind him, you know three things for certain: firstly, you’ll definitely call him tomorrow, secondly, this man is going to utterly ruin you, and finally, you’re going to let him.

Part 2 > >

Be added to the series taglist here

[sohcean]

we are literally witnessing a massacre

seriously what is happening right now

[sonobeunitsarecool]

Yuno's birthday timeline convo

Shidou: Thank you, for keeping Shiina-kun company and helping her during her treatment. It's thanks to your aid, Kashiki-kun, that I can help. Both her, and myself. Even if something were to happen to me, so long as Kashiki-kun is here then I can rest easy. Yuno: No way, I could never. I can't really do anything on my own. Helping Shidou-san is about all I can do. It's just a pretense of make-believe nursing. Shidou: No, Kashiki-kun has a real knack for this. You're perceptive, able to keep a cool head, and you have the guts for it. If you haven't yet decided on your prospects for after graduation, how about aiming for a career in healthcare? Yuno: Really? ...hahah, c'mon. I don't want to think about anything like the future. 'Sides, my current involvement in people's lives... I can't find that funny.

Oh? Yuno's being set up as a possible pillar for the others to lean on, particularly if something bad were to happen to Shidou. It's a part to play, and a heavy mantle. It seems to have many similarities with what is known about her story; it was something that is an "adult's task", and yet, she's performing more than admirably. I don't think she's quite sure why she's doing all this to help out the other prisoners, since she appears to have more of a knack for knowing the emotions behind other people's actions and words rather than her own. I may just be projecting, but it reminds me of alexithymia. Yuno seems to downplay her helpfulness and capabilities, dismissing the future as something dull and unsavoury to think of ("I think 40 years would be just right", much?). She has a lack of care for the future, a type of "who gives a damn" attitude, and a desire to fill that lacking "warmth" that appears to be akin to chronic depression. It's not an actively suicidal type, but more... if Yuno got executed in Milgram, I don't think she'd panic, and give a bitter, cutting remark to Es. It's also interesting how Shidou is also setting Yuno up as a makeshift nurse. He doesn't seem to treat her like a child, unlike those not too much younger than her, acknowledging that working in healthcare could be a field of study that she may have an inclination towards. I had thought that Shidou would more or less develop some kind of god complex in trial 3, based off of some of the lyrics in Triage. Here though, he's attributing much of Mahiru's recovery to Yuno, but still seems to set her at more of an arms' distance. Perhaps he's too deep in "doctor mode"?

[austenhowe]

started watching st. denis medical 'cause my sister, who's a doctor, wanted to see it. I love mockumentary-style sitcoms so I already know I'm going to tune in to this one and it's pretty funny but what makes it funnier is watching with my sister.

she keeps pausing to look at the stethoscopes and trying to discuss with me—someone who does not understand a single thing about littmann stethoscopes—the pros and cons of buying the cardio iv over the classic (?) ones. she's literally window shopping for stethoscopes and ooh-ing and aah-ing over the different color combos and how they would look compared to the hospital lighting and the different colored scrubs 😭. she's legit geeking out hahaha. (she's heavily leaning towards the cardio iv in all black or maybe the plum colored one, depending on her scrubs. she's still undecided.)

she screamed when the trauma surgeon broke the sterilized field (?) in that one scene. 😂 apparently, you're not supposed to let your hands drop below the waist/hip level when you're scrubbed in? she kept waiting for the nurse to scold the doctor and have him re-scrub, she was so convinced that that was going to be one of the jokes lol.

also, as a non-american, is it normal for triage nurses not to take your vitals when you go to the ER? they showed the patients just describing their symptoms without someone taking their vitals at the counter. it's probably just an oversight on the part of the writers, but it's plausible enough from what I hear about the state of the american healthcare system that I feel compelled to ask. 🥲