Ancient Shaman Ritual

On the way into my shift, I walked by a room and noticed that there was iodoform gauze packing hanging on the sign outside the room. Why was it there? Someone found it on the floor and put it there so no one would trip? Ancient Shaman to ward off evil spirits? Secret code showing the surgeon where his patient had been waiting for the past 6 hours? Nope. Turns out that the patient had a gangrenous foot that strongly smelled like rotting flesh. The iodine from the gauze almost acted as a barrier to the smell spreading. When the patient first arrived, the odor reportedly wafted through the entire ED. By the time I arrived for my shift I only noticed the faint odor of iodine. Of course curiosity got the best of me and I had to open the door to see how well the iodine gauze was working. Gauze … great idea. Opening the door … not so much.
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Tags: Random Thoughts Source Type: blogs