Time to Move On :: Personal Narrative Essays

Time to Move On While I was driving to work on a Thursday evening in November at 10:00 p.m., for my first night of training on the graveyard shift at Medical Centers Radiology Department. I was imagining the types of exams that could come to the department from the ER, praying that I would not have to x-ray a drunk or someone that had been in a bad car accident. When I finally arrived to work at 11:00 p.m., I walked through the ER to get to the radiology department. So far the ER was having a really slow night. After putting my things away, I met the technologist (Bob) that I would be working with for the next eight hours. Since the department was so quiet, Bob and I had some time to discuss what the graveyard technologists responsibilities included, such as hanging all the x-rays from the night for the Radiologist to read, and getting the paper work ready for the in hospital portable x-rays to be done at 5:30a.m. before the shift ends at 7:00a.m. Now it was going on 1:00a.m. Bob and I had gotten aquatinted, and I knew all my responsibilities . Since we still had not heard from the ER we both tried to get some sleep. When I was drifting off to sleep, I was hoping that if the ER did call it would only be for easy exams and preferably no drunks. It was 4:00a.m. when I awoke to the ringing of the phone . I knew it was going to be the ER calling to send a patient over for x-rays. When I answered the phone, I was again praying it was something quick and easy. The nurse on the other end of the Line said, "We have a chest x-ray" with a sigh of relief I said, " Send them to room 3 ." After finishing the chest x-ray, I walked the patient back to the ER. This is when I saw what I had been hoping would not happen on my shift. Doctors and nurses were rushing into ER Room 8 where I saw a young man (high school age) laying on a back board with a cervical collar on and his head had been split open.