Christmas duty – how is it going? What problems do patients report to the hospital with?

Every year, in the last week of December, Poles report to the hospital with the same ailments. It’s not just a stomach ache or a bone in the esophagus. During the holiday season, we are more prone to cardiovascular symptoms and injuries. We talk to Capt. Narcissus Sadłon, doctor of the hospital emergency department of the Military Medical Institute in Warsaw.

1. Increased traffic in hospitals begins in the pre-Christmas period, when the wards are mainly used by elderly people
2. A change in weather may result in more frequent occurrence of cardiovascular, respiratory and nervous system symptoms
3. The most common problems on Christmas Eve include a bone in the esophagus, patients with abdominal pain come to the hospital shortly after.
4. When it comes to New Year’s Eve, injuries to the head, hands, lower limbs, contusions, wounds and fractures dominate each year.

How is emergency room work over Christmas?

We expect him to be calm, but usually there are as many or more patients than usual.

What problems do people come with the most?

The pre-holiday period is specific. Everyone wants to settle all matters before Christmas Eve. Also the health ones. He awaits immediate examination, diagnosis and effective treatment. When asked when the problem has lasted, we often hear: from a week, a month, a year …

It happens that families bring in chronically ill relatives claiming that their health has deteriorated. Among ourselves, we say that another Christmas grandmother or grandpa has come. Usually we do not find any significant exacerbation of the disease. The family wants to put the patient in a hospital and thus free themselves from the obligation of constant care during the holidays. Most often these are stroke survivors who are lying.

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When the doctor states that there are no indications to leave the sick person in the hospital, he hears the question: but how should I take my mother, since I have already packed my car and am going away for Christmas. Unfortunately, such cases do happen in the pre-Christmas period. The same happens before the holidays.

American cardiologists say that most deaths from a heart attack occur on the first and second days of Christmas. Does the Lord also see such regularity?

Our observations show that if there is a change in the weather before Christmas associated with a sharp drop or increase in atmospheric pressure, chronic diseases of the circulatory, nervous and respiratory systems are exacerbated. In Warsaw, we always know when halny blows in Podhale. In hospitals, the number of patients with acute coronary syndromes, exacerbations of bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is increasing. The number of patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders is also increasing.

If snow falls shortly before Christmas, the number of different types of damage increases dramatically. Everyone runs around the city in traffic, so slips, falls, fractures and injuries to arms, legs, head injuries occur more often. Significantly, women and the elderly predominate among the victims.

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And what about a typical emergency room Christmas Eve?

Just before Christmas Eve there is a momentary calm. Traffic starts with the first star. Those who ate carp too fast come here. We have frequent cases of choking and persistent coughing. Sometimes the patient only thinks that a bone has stuck in his esophagus. If the basic examination does not exclude this possibility, an X-ray examination or a gastroscopy is performed. We do a lot of gastroscopy during the holidays. This test makes it clear whether a foreign body is stuck in the digestive system and possibly remove it.

Also check: What are the patient’s rights in the hospital?

Does the size of the bone matter?

Even a small bone can cause distressing symptoms and very dangerous consequences. It all depends on where it gets stuck. If it digs into the mucosa, it can lead to inflammation and subsequent perforation. The effects of inflammation in the mediastinum, where the esophagus passes, can be dramatic and very difficult to treat. It can even be fatal. The esophagus is well innervated, so if a bone gets stuck in this part of the digestive system, symptoms are the fastest. Lower down in the intestines, the risk of punching into the mucosa is much less.

What else do the doctors take out of the esophagus apart from the bones?

Sometimes a coin, a ball, a toothpick, a piece of chicken, a bone.

What else can happen to us if we happily get through the Christmas Eve dinner?

After 19: 00-20: 00 a lot of people show up with stomach pains or vomiting. This group of patients dominates until midnight.

This emergency room comes to the call of a person with a stomach ache?

Ambulance services usually do not respond to abdominal pain after overeating. These patients go to the ER on their own. Our principle is that everyone who applies must be examined by a doctor. We often advise that the patient does not eat more and continues to celebrate on an empty stomach. This is where the medical help ends. Sometimes these stomachs overloaded with food require the use of antispasmodics and painkillers.

Do Poles often sprinkle alcohol on Christmas Eve dishes?

Not more often than on a weekday Friday or Saturday. At least, the ER does not show any more people drinking large amounts of alcohol during the holidays.

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How is the first day of Christmas?

Now there are those who somehow survived Christmas Eve. They did not go to midnight mass because they did not have the strength, but in the morning they come to the hospital, claiming that they cannot stand it anymore. Usually, patients are prompted to report to the hospital on this day by abdominal pain after an excessively abundant Christmas Eve supper. Most often, these are harmless to health and life.

In addition, victims of excessive greed during the morning breakfast. There are also patients who have exacerbation of chronic diseases, there are also victims of accidents. Someone will stumble over the Christmas tree, someone else will start playing with firecrackers earlier. Even if it is a trivial matter, many people will go to the hospital.

Car accidents, do they happen more often?

We do not see such a tendency during the holidays, but in the pre-Christmas period there are more traffic accidents.

Does New Year’s Eve have its own specificity?

Head, hand and lower limb injuries dominate. Various contusions, wounds and fractures.

How do they happen?

Most often they are the result of reckless play with firecrackers that explode either too early or not in the place where they should. The result is burns, facial wounds, eye injuries, burns, and hand wounds, sometimes so severe that they require amputation of the fingers.

What must happen before the fingers have to be amputated?

The fuse burns too quickly, the firecracker is thrown out too late. Often these are the effects of showing off recklessly under the influence of alcohol. Then the assessment of danger is distorted. The number of drunks is growing exponentially after 21: 00-22: 00. People with head and nose injuries come en masse. Be it as a result of a beating or an accident. We have been hit by a randomly flying champagne bottle or other object. Sometimes victims do not come until New Year’s Day, when they sober up and find that they have been beaten. In snowy weather, orthopedists experience hard hours, repairing sprains and sprains. Most often the ankle joint, the knee joint, and less often the hip. Accidents are mainly caused by young people, because the older ones usually stay at home.

How many people pass through the emergency room?

In the emergency department, we have an average of 60 to over 100 people, when there is an ENT service, there are also 100-200 people, ophthalmology has a similar number of patients.

You haven’t been able to find the cause of your ailments for a long time? Do you want to tell us your story or draw attention to a common health problem? Write to the address [email protected] #Together we can do more