The Holiday Spirit

Traumatic injuries are generally divided into two groups: blunt and penetrating. Blunt trauma is caused by falls, blows, and motorized vehicle accidents. Penetrating trauma is caused by guns and knives. Penetrating trauma is much more likely than blunt trauma to require operative management.

Here in Chattanooga, we do not see as much penetrating trauma as residency programs in bigger cities do. I suppose this is good in that you're not as likely to be shot while performing normal civilian activities, however, from the perspective of a surgery resident, it is not viewed in quite that light.

I had off for five days around Christmas, but have been on call after Christmas. Something about the holiday time must put people into an absolutely ornery mood. I have seen more penetrating traumatic injuries in the last two nights of call than I have seen in the entire past year. The same thing happened to the people on call over Christmas. I guess bringing all these families and "friends" together over Christmas and New Years might not be such a good idea.

I have one more night of trauma call on New Years Eve before switching services. I've spent the last two nights of call up all night operating on gun shot wounds and stabbings. We'll see if that trend continues.