Cringe moments

First of all, this is such a genius idea:

Cringe Readings

So, I had my own cringe moment the other day at work and I have been trying to hide under a desk ever since.

I had a patient who was horrible and psychotic . . . so basically that’s the start to all my stories. In any event, this particular patient had a panic value on her chart, meaning one of her lab values was dangerously high or low. I was SO busy that night [no "lunch" break until 4AM] and the patient was not in ANY acute distress, so I was not particularly worried.

I glanced at her lab values and saw that, in her CBC (complete blood count), SOMETHING was only 18. I didn’t recognize the lab value immediately and noted that her H&H (hemaglobin and hematocrit) were OK. Good, no blood transfusions tonight; at that point, that was all I cared about. So I pushed the panic value to the back of my mind and continued on with my 56,000 other tasks. Eventually, I meandered over to the attending physician to let him know.

Just a side note: The physicians can see the panic values as well, so it was not as if this woman’s life was in my hands until I let him know. Really, he should have known already from the blinking red microscope symbol next to her name.

So I say, Hey Dr. Flong [not his real name], Patient psychotic with a headache has a panic value – can she be seen soon? [she had not yet been seen 6 hours after arrival]

Dr. Flong: What’s the panic value?
Me: Ummmm (shit, shit). Something obscure or something. I don’t know – I didn’t recognize it. Plt or something? Whatever it is, it’s 18.
Dr. Flong [to the resident standing next to him, both of them trying to act like I don't exist]: Oh, her platelets are 18. Maybe you can see her next?
Me: Ok, great, I have the IQ of a ferret. I’m going to go gouge my eyes out. Thanks.

I mean, come on! PLT!!! PLATELETS!! That would be like a stockbroker saying to his boss: “Hey, so I saw this thing on the news this morning; something about a DOW? It’s low or something. I mean, whatever it is, it must be obscure because I haven’t even heard of it.”

I have been cringing every 40 minutes since this episode.

A note on cringing: When I do or say something stupid [usually at work], I feel the aftershocks for at least 3-7 days afterwards. Thinking about it feels like a bolt of lighting and, frequently, I will visibly shiver, twitch, or do a Tourrette’s-like yelp until the cringe-feeling passes. Anyone else? Is this just part of my generalized anxiety problem which I refuse to address or do normal people do this too?