As it turns out, the hospital is not so calm as I initially thought when I first visited. As a Trauma 1 center, the Emergency Department receives a lot of extremely difficult cases, which arrive either by helicopter or by ambulance. I have immense respect for the trauma chaplain there who manages to be both collected and caring in the most hectic situations.
This afternoon, the trauma chaplain was showing us the ropes of the Emergency Department when we got news of a particularly bad auto accident case. I did not like being there. The mere description of what had happened made me feel woozy, and by the time the helicopter landed and the patient was wheeled into the trauma bay, my vision was going black and I thought I was going to pass out. I didn't, but it definitely gave me pause. I had been impatient with all our orientation, wishing to get out on the floors doing chaplaincy, but not anymore.
Now I am glad they are giving us as much orientation as they are. The trauma chaplains have big role to play in talking with the paramedics to find out any information about possible family contacts, standing ready in the bay to talk with the patient if they are capable of talking, going to visit any family in the waiting room once they arrive, etc. Down there in the ED, there's actually quite a lot to do and I was trying my best - through the haze of wooziness - to pay attention to all the logistics involved in finding, notifying, and orienting relatives.
When I'm on call, I'll almost certainly be paged for trauma events since the hospital gets so many, so I need to know what to do and not pass out.
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