Bronwyn Cowell gets a check up with Dr Tim Green, director of the Emergency Department at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
By Bronwyn Cowell
Published monthly: February 25, 2009
. . . Do you [Dr Green] or workers in your department notice a spike in student admissions on Wednesday nights (the traditional college party night) or on the night of big events, like college formals?
It’s funny you mention Wednesday night. Until recently I worked every Wednesday evening for many years and I couldn’t figure out why it was always me who was trying to hail a cab surrounded by people in togas or tennis outfits… I didn’t realize Wednesday was the college party night.
But to answer your question no significant spike of attendances, although I do recall a few ankle injuries following formals when the combination of a few drinks and high stiletto heels caused a few problems… I don’t know if that counts as a spike of admissions.
. . . How have you seen drug and alcohol related admissions change over time? For example, has the RPA ED seen the ugly end of the so called ice ‘epidemic’? Or are other party drugs like cocaine and pills still more prevalent?
There’s been a lot of changes. When people take too much ice they can get very aggressive, violent, even psychotic. They may hurt themselves, others and unfortunately we’ve had a run of nurses and doctors getting hit.
The other thing is that many young people think that using so called “party drugs” is pretty safe…The trouble is that you never know what you are taking and we’ve seen some pretty sick people. The worst offender is GBH. The margin of error with that drug is so small. We get a few cases every weekend of people who stop breathing. I’d hate to know how many people don’t make it to hospital. . . . --NewsHammer 3/04/2009
Continue reading this article from the Feb 25, 2009 O Week Edition of the University of Sydney's Honi Soit.
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