The Pitt, Season 2

[Anonymous]

If the Pitt can function without computers, why can't the other trauma centers that are sending everything over to the Pitt?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I could not look at the tongue laceration with all the blood. Including the repair. I had to cover the screen.

It was two in the afternoon, she was blackout drunk early in the afternoon on the Fourth?

This didn't seem weird to me because both she and her friend were obviously big partiers and day drinking is a BIG thing for certain demographics, especially on holidays. Bottomless brunch, you know.

Also the doctors were clearly alarmed by her level of inebriation and even talked about recommending rehab programs because of the amount of drinking she was talking about and the fact that she was blacking out. Yes, that conversation existed more to give Santos and Langdon a chance to exchange meaningful looks over the word "rehab" but the show was also portraying realistic drinking behavior in context.

Certain demographics being skanky hos?

I mean, yes. But not limited to them.

My work commute takes me past those two Irish pubs near judiciary square, and I always know when it's St. Patrick's day because there will be a line around the block at 8:30am when I walk by. Wouldn't be shocked if one of those people wound up in the ER with a stupid drinking injury at 2pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the Pitt can function without computers, why can't the other trauma centers that are sending everything over to the Pitt?

It's a fair question but I think the idea is that the Pitt had warning and therefore had time to set up an analog system. It's also just one trauma center sending patients to the Pitt -- there is another center down but they are routing their patients to a different hospital. So the Pitt is not the only one still running (it may be the only Trauma 1 though, I can't remember the nuance).

It's a thin premise but it doesn't bug me that much. I mean, I read a lot of sci fi and fantasy, and often the entire premise of a story will be very thin. But the point is to create a situation you want to explore because of what it allows you to say about people and relationships. They want to overload the ER with patients and also force them to work without certain modern administrative technology because it will allow them to tell certain stories. I'm okay with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I could not look at the tongue laceration with all the blood. Including the repair. I had to cover the screen.

It was two in the afternoon, she was blackout drunk early in the afternoon on the Fourth?

This didn't seem weird to me because both she and her friend were obviously big partiers and day drinking is a BIG thing for certain demographics, especially on holidays. Bottomless brunch, you know.

Also the doctors were clearly alarmed by her level of inebriation and even talked about recommending rehab programs because of the amount of drinking she was talking about and the fact that she was blacking out. Yes, that conversation existed more to give Santos and Langdon a chance to exchange meaningful looks over the word "rehab" but the show was also portraying realistic drinking behavior in context.

Certain demographics being skanky hos?

I mean, yes. But not limited to them.

My work commute takes me past those two Irish pubs near judiciary square, and I always know when it's St. Patrick's day because there will be a line around the block at 8:30am when I walk by. Wouldn't be shocked if one of those people wound up in the ER with a stupid drinking injury at 2pm.

Also March Madness, college basketball from morning to night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the Pitt can function without computers, why can't the other trauma centers that are sending everything over to the Pitt?

It's a fair question but I think the idea is that the Pitt had warning and therefore had time to set up an analog system. It's also just one trauma center sending patients to the Pitt -- there is another center down but they are routing their patients to a different hospital. So the Pitt is not the only one still running (it may be the only Trauma 1 though, I can't remember the nuance).

It's a thin premise but it doesn't bug me that much. I mean, I read a lot of sci fi and fantasy, and often the entire premise of a story will be very thin. But the point is to create a situation you want to explore because of what it allows you to say about people and relationships. They want to overload the ER with patients and also force them to work without certain modern administrative technology because it will allow them to tell certain stories. I'm okay with that.

They clearly had systems in place to handle the network outage. I'd assume that they run drills for that sort of thing. Do I remember correctly, did the computer systems turn off when they disconnected the network? Why not just leave everything on and running, just not connected?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I could not look at the tongue laceration with all the blood. Including the repair. I had to cover the screen.

It was two in the afternoon, she was blackout drunk early in the afternoon on the Fourth?

This didn't seem weird to me because both she and her friend were obviously big partiers and day drinking is a BIG thing for certain demographics, especially on holidays. Bottomless brunch, you know.

Also the doctors were clearly alarmed by her level of inebriation and even talked about recommending rehab programs because of the amount of drinking she was talking about and the fact that she was blacking out. Yes, that conversation existed more to give Santos and Langdon a chance to exchange meaningful looks over the word "rehab" but the show was also portraying realistic drinking behavior in context.

Certain demographics being skanky hos?

I mean, yes. But not limited to them.

My work commute takes me past those two Irish pubs near judiciary square, and I always know when it's St. Patrick's day because there will be a line around the block at 8:30am when I walk by. Wouldn't be shocked if one of those people wound up in the ER with a stupid drinking injury at 2pm.

Also March Madness, college basketball from morning to night.

Yep. These, plus the summer Big 3 (Memorial Day, the 4th, and Labor Day) are probably some of the biggest day drinking days of the year. Realistic that you'd see patients with drinking-related issues much earlier in the day on those days.

And to be honest, when I was in grad school (where drinking culture was really excessive and unhealthy) we'd use ANY excuse to start drinking before noon. The Kentucky Derby (gotta get to the bar early to get a good spot to watch), Sunday football, end of exams, someone's birthday. Once a group of us decided to go to the new Fogo de Chao on like a random Friday, just because we had not been, and for some reason we went for lunch. They do an all day happy hour there, so we were definitely all several drinks in by like 1pm. Granted, in that case at least we were also consuming a ton of food. But the point is, daytime drinking injuries are NOT as uncommon as a people who don't have unhealthy relationships with alcohol might think, and especially on a holiday where drinking is more encouraged than at other times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the Pitt can function without computers, why can't the other trauma centers that are sending everything over to the Pitt?

It's a fair question but I think the idea is that the Pitt had warning and therefore had time to set up an analog system. It's also just one trauma center sending patients to the Pitt -- there is another center down but they are routing their patients to a different hospital. So the Pitt is not the only one still running (it may be the only Trauma 1 though, I can't remember the nuance).

It's a thin premise but it doesn't bug me that much. I mean, I read a lot of sci fi and fantasy, and often the entire premise of a story will be very thin. But the point is to create a situation you want to explore because of what it allows you to say about people and relationships. They want to overload the ER with patients and also force them to work without certain modern administrative technology because it will allow them to tell certain stories. I'm okay with that.

They clearly had systems in place to handle the network outage. I'd assume that they run drills for that sort of thing. Do I remember correctly, did the computer systems turn off when they disconnected the network? Why not just leave everything on and running, just not connected?

I think if the computers aren't networked, there's no point. A doctor/nurse/admin could enter patient info and it could be saved locally on the computer, but if it can't communicate with other computers, you're still going to have to relay that information. Going to paper forms and the old system of using triplicate forms and passing charts through stations depending on where the patient is in the process is going to be more efficient than continuing to use computers and... what? Printing out charts and notes and handing them around? Might as well go fully analog. Especially since, as the show makes clear, the attending and charge nurse are all old enough to have used and trained on analog systems, so they are going to be able to oversee that system more easily than if you tried to do something hybrid.

It also parallels what we saw last season when Dr. Abbott shows up to help with the mass shooting event. Trauma personnel are trained on creating triage systems that will enable them to treat patients and save lives even in a situation where the ordinary hospital systems don't work. Last year, it was the sheer overwhelm of having so many critical patients coming into the ER at once. Instead of a normal check in process and moving people through chairs, clinic, ambulance pay, trauma room, and patient rooms, they had to set up zones and tag patients using analog means (I think they used colored wrist bands) so that everyone would know where a patient should go and what their general status was without needing to check an actual chart.

I have also participated in on-site triage trainings like that. That's where hospital personnel are dispatched to the site of a major accident (like a bridge or building collapse) and have to institute a system on site to help facilitate treating certain critical patients on site (before transferring them to a trauma center) as well as assessing and treating more minor injuries so those patients don't wind up flooding a trauma center that needs to focus on the most critical patients. Obviously Abbott (and Dr. Al-Hashimi) would have also done similar things while working in war zones. Many of the methods for handling mass trauma events were developed on battlefields.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I could not look at the tongue laceration with all the blood. Including the repair. I had to cover the screen.

My kid impaled his tongue by biting through it during a fall and when we took him to the ER (Fairfax inova) I was told it is not recommended to put stitches in the tongue UNLESS it’s been split (like a snake) and that the tongue heels super fast. He literally had a hole in his tongue towards the top but not split. So we were told to keep the mouth clean with lots of water and not to eat salty food and sure enough it started to close within days.

[Anonymous]

Cancer Mom: Grandpa seems to be in on her plan, which to me seems to be exaggerating her leg pain to get more and more morphine. And Dr. Robby appears to be okay with it.

How heartbreaking to be so exhausted and so done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know what the medical story line is with the obese patient? I understand the fat phobia and discrimination overweight (esp obese) patients experience in medical care is the story line but I couldn’t figure out what his medical issue was that brought him into the ER in the first place. Can someone explain?

His symptoms were vague and he doesn't have a diagnosis yet because they couldn't take all the tests they needed (that's why he's being transferred). His main symptom was abdominal pain. That's a super common thing that brings people to the ER and there are tons of possible explanations. It's very standard to take scans for abdominal pain because there are so many organs that could be impacted. They are looking at appendix, kidneys, bowels, gallbladder, just to name a few. That's why his story ultimately revolves around how to get him a CT scan because his size means they cannot use a standard machine.

The reason they intubate him is because he tells them he cannot lie flat on his back without shortness of breath. You have to be able to lie flat for a CT. So they put in a breathing tube to enable them to do the CT.

If he has to go somewhere else for the CT scan, why not wait until he gets there to intubate him?

Being able to lie him flat will make it easier to transfer him.

Also the Pitt is a trauma center with staff trained to handle a tricky intubation or any complications that could arise from it. It's unlikely the facility he's being moved to is a trauma 1 center, especially since a major plot point this season is that several of the trauma centers in the city are shit down.

I thought they had to have him flat to be weighed in addition to prepping for lying flat in the CT. Otherwise waiting to tube would have made sense.

Also, they’re playing fast and loose with the names of the other Pittsburgh area hospitals. The initial hospital to experience a cyber attack is made up (and so made up that I can’t even remember it without scrollling back, which I’m too lazy to do). The hospital to which they are sending the patient in need of a larger scanner (“Presby”or UPMC Presbyterian) is very much real and the “other” Level 1, complete bells and whistles trauma center in Pittsburgh. Last season they referenced several other real hospitals such as West Penn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I could not look at the tongue laceration with all the blood. Including the repair. I had to cover the screen.

My kid impaled his tongue by biting through it during a fall and when we took him to the ER (Fairfax inova) I was told it is not recommended to put stitches in the tongue UNLESS it’s been split (like a snake) and that the tongue heels super fast. He literally had a hole in his tongue towards the top but not split. So we were told to keep the mouth clean with lots of water and not to eat salty food and sure enough it started to close within days.

Uh oh. Careful - the Pitt worshippers are going to come after you for pointing out a flaw. None of the mistakes or flaws are ever worth discussing. lol.

[Anonymous]

Someone said Abbott was going to be “balls deep” in Al Hashimi….I don’t see it. All she said is we should trade war stories sometimes over a beer. Seemed more like friendly colleagues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I could not look at the tongue laceration with all the blood. Including the repair. I had to cover the screen.

It was two in the afternoon, she was blackout drunk early in the afternoon on the Fourth?

Did you muse the mention of the bar crawl?

[Anonymous]

*miss not muse

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would the abandoned baby be wrapped in a blanket in the bassinet? Dangerous!

She wasn’t. It was a thin swaddle blanket which is totally ok. They mean thick blankets. Duh.

The cdc, nih, aap, and consumer protection all agree with me. What credible source says an infant can have a loose blanket around them as long as it is thin?