The PITT Quiz: Episodes 13, 14 & 15

The last three episodes of The Pitt were a rollercoaster of emotion; featuring conflicts, clinical disagreements, tremendous sorrows, small joys, and some moments of unexpected grace. When Dr. Robbie is worried that Dr. Whitaker saw him in a moment of extreme vulnerability, Dr. Whitaker lets him save face, and asks him: “Do you mean when you were having your moment of quiet reflection?” Whittaker also has a moment with Dr. Santos, where she finally seems to show she indeed does care and has a heart.

 As the show ends, Dr. Robbie says: “This place will break your heart, but it’s also full of miracles.” And when he walks home,  we know he’ll be back tomorrow, despite the brutality of the shift. He’ll be back, just like so many of us, who always come back.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the quizzes! If you’d like, let us know your thoughts here.

1. Nurse Mateo compliments student Dr. Javadi on her performance during code triage. He says "You were a rock star today Victoria." As he walks away, Victoria excitedly says to herself:

A) Yeah, I really was! B) He knows my name! C) I hope Dr. Robbie heard that!

2. Dr. Walsh chides the senior night shift resident, Dr. Ellis, for not allowing a hemorrhaging crush injury patient to have “permissive hypotension". This practise deliberately allows a low BP in order to:

A) Allow organ perfusion but prevent bleeding B) Allow organ perfusion but prevent electrolyte imbalance C) Allow organ perfusion but prevent heart failure

3. A young man found alone in his car in the parking lot of Pitt Fest is comatose & very blue. His blood draws are chocolate in colour. The diagnosis is methemoglobinemia and in his case, Dr. Santos determines the likely cause is:

A) Amyl nitrate (poppers) B) Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) C) Drugs used to cut cocaine (local anaesthetic agents) D) Drugs in online suicide kits (nitrites)

4. Student Dr. Whitaker takes Dr. Abbott’s instruction of "every critical patient gets an IO" a bit too literally, leading him to IO a conscious patient. When Dr Mohan can't find an attending MD to consult with, she uses an EZ IO to do what?

A) Give it to Dr. McKay to drill off her ankle monitor B) Use it to insert a chest tube C) Use it to drill burr holes, based on a paper she read in JEM

5. A 14-year-old male is admitted with code sepsis. Cough, fever, rash – mostly lower limbs no vesicles; altered LOC; HR 150, BP 80/55, Resp 36, Temp 102 Sats 82. As the mother refuses treatment & consults Dr. Google in front of him, Dr. Robbie explains her son likely has: Which communicable disease? And, with which possible complication, for which the death rate is 20%?

A) Chicken Pox & Reye's syndrome B) Mumps & Orchitis C) Measles & Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis D) COVID & ARDS

6. Dr. Langdon seems to blow his last chance with Dr. Robbie when they have a heated argument about his addiction and Langdon says:

A) "I refuse to lose my medical license for this." B) "I’m not the one talking to cartoon animals on the wall." C) "I can't admit to my wife that I've lost my job." D) "You're coping no better than me, Robbie."

7. Dr. Abbot despairs when he can't localize the origin of bleeding on a GSW patient and says "nipples to navel is no-man's land in trauma". This saying means there are so many organs in that area, its sometimes hard to localize injury, even with imaging; and can even depend on whether:

A) the patient was inhaling when the trauma occurred B) the patient was exhaling when the trauma occurred C) both of the above D) none of the above

8. These last overtime hours of the shift take a huge emotional toll on everyone, leaving us to wonder who might never return to the ER. As the shift ends, when Dr. Robbie says "See you on Monday", Dana our unflappable charge nurse says:

A) "You can count on it.' B) "I hope our new interns aren’t too traumatized." C) Nothing. D) "I’ll be here, as long as you are too."

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Here is the article for question 4:  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36229321/