Another plausibility check!

[annathepiper]

Again, putting this outside the Writing filter so as to maximize my pool of people with clues--and hopefully this will be easy enough to answer even if you haven't read any prior drafts of Chapter 3 of Faerie Blood. For those of you who haven't, most of this chapter is about my heroine Kendis, with the aid of her housemates Jake and Carson, getting wounded hero Christopher off to the hospital. There are two lesser details in the latter half of this scene that are niggling at me, and I need them double-checked. This is particularly directed to anyone on my Friends list with medical clues!

1) I have an NPC named Nathan helping the doctor who treats Christopher in the ER. Is it appropriate to refer to Nathan as an orderly, given the functions he is fulfilling in the scene? (I.e., holding Christopher steady while the doctor stitches his head, running off to check on making sure there's a bed ready to stick Christopher in for the night.) Or should he be a nurse?

2) In previous drafts of this chapter I have the doctor administering an analgesic to Christopher while Nathan runs off to check on the status of a bed for Christopher, since they plan to keep him overnight for observation. I have been advised of two things (though I can't currently find the email or LJ comments referencing this): #1, Nathan, not the doctor, is more likely to administer the shot, and #2, said shot may well be delivered to a less than public portion of Christopher's anatomy. First, can anyone verify either point #1 or point #2 or both for me?

I do plan to go ahead and revise the chapter so that Nathan comes back to report on the status of the bed and give Christopher his shot, while the doctor delivers a line to my heroine explaining that it's just an analgesic, she's not really sedating him (as Kendis fears). But I'm trying to figure out if Kendis should be shooed off at that point, so as to give them a modicum of privacy to deliver said shot and to start moving Christopher to wherever they're going to put him for the night (and it also occurs to me that they may hold off delivering the shot until he's settled?). This is very close to the end of the chapter anyway--and Kendis only needs to be there long enough for Christopher to deliver a final line to her about needing to watch her back. So I don't have a particular need for the NPCs to be doing one thing or another in terms of tending my wounded hero.

But I do want to make sure that they're doing the right thing! Every little bit I can do to lessen the grade of cables needed for disbelief suspension is a good thing. ;)

Comments

[eveshka.livejournal.com]

I think, to be accurate, Nathan should be a Nurse. This would qualify him to administer the analgesic. And when Tal broke himself, they just jabbed the needle in his hip while I was in the room.

[annathepiper]

I have no problems with Nathan actually being a nurse--from my own ER experience I had a few years back when I was brought in with my head clunked open, and also based on when I went in with my broken arm, I do seem to recall that the people who were giving me shots were the nurses, while the doctors supervised and issued Sage Pronouncements. So that would make sense.

This would also fit in with the other advice I'd gotten about the doctor most likely not giving my poor battered hero the shot. So! I can work with this. Thanks for chiming in! :)

[firni.livejournal.com]

I've always gotten shots from nurses, not doctors. Only time a doctor has come near me with a needle is either to aspirate something or when the nurse can find a frickin' vein.

[firni.livejournal.com]

CAN'T. CANNOT find a frickin' vein.

stupid fingers

[annathepiper]

*nodnods* As I mentioned to eveshka, this is in keeping with what I remember myself from trips to the ER. So I shall adjust my chapter accordingly. Thanks for the datapoint!

[annathepiper]

Hey, it's been the day for it. mizkit and I were having typing issues all over my post earlier today. ;)

[brightbeak.livejournal.com]

1. as already stated, Nathan would be a nurse, as orderlies RARELY have the certification to give injections.

2. yes the analgesic would be given in a clothing-covered locale. injections of analgesics (which automagically puts it stronger than tylenol, aspirin or advil) goes in the hip, and they have to expose quite a portion of the hip to find the 'markers' (illiac crest, among others) that indicate proper location.
as well, this would likely be given BEFORE a patient was moved to a ward, as the process of settling a patient needing pain medication would be too much w/o the pain meds there to make it tolerable. this is especially the case as frequently it takes much longer to get ready to move the patient (often on the receiving end) than anticipated, and patients rarely wait QUIETLY for pain medication! also, pain medication helps make the patient more compliant and thus, easier to deal with in many regards. i honestly can think of NO instances in my own experience where i had to wait for pain relief b/c of being moved to another location. they've ALWAYS waited the 45s to give the injection, THEN moved me. :)

then again, ask gerimaple i don't DO pain quietly! ;)

[brightbeak.livejournal.com]

forgot to mention that they'd be unlikely to ask someone to move if the person had been there during the examination &/or stitching portion of the doctor's visit. it's only when the person hasn't been present for those things that they would be asked to give them a moment. (either b/c they're not close enough to warrant that kind of privacy, or because they're squeamish about needles - at which, they'd relocation themselves QUICKLY upon seeing Nathan w/ a needle in hand)

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[annathepiper]

Duly noted--this is fine, given what I already wrote. That'll be something I don't necessarily have to change, then. Thanks!

[annathepiper]

Gotcha all around, hon--and as I said re: your other comment, thanks for cluing me in! Kinda sounds like to me, then, that I could mostly get away with keeping the tail end of the chapter as I wrote it.

Now I just have to fix the beginning!

[brightbeak.livejournal.com]

no problem sweetie.. someone might as well benefit from my copious time in ER's! :)

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[annathepiper]

The wide array of life experiences available to me on my LJ friends list is exactly why I lob these questions outside the Writing filter. ;)

More to come within the Writing filter soon, I hope, as I try to beat this chapter into shape! It's going to get a HEFTY rewrite.

[brightbeak.livejournal.com]

i'm soon going to institute a fanfic writing filter too, b/c i know some folks on my flist don't want to read/hear about writing fanfic!

and yeah, if you can't data mine your flist for help on their myriad life experiences, where ELSE would a person go?????

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[annathepiper]

Indeed. :) I may have to get a lot of folks in one fell swoop as "the members of my Livejournal friends list" when I write up the Acknowledgements for this book--without you guys, to one degree or another, Faerie Blood would not exist!

[brightbeak.livejournal.com]

part of the dedication in my master's thesis belonged to a significant number of folks from the online community i was a member of, by nick i named a bunch, and then by the usenet group i named many others :)
seems thesedays that much in the line of acknowledgements & dedications DO seem to point online :)

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[annathepiper]

Welcome to the greater world community of the Internet! Ain't it great? :)