Shifts Happen

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Episode 205 "Shifts Happen"
Original Air Date: 10/23/03
Written by: Dee Johnson
Directed by: Julie Hébert
Guest Stars:

Richard Cox - Rick Mathers

Simone-Elise Girard - Gillian

Mark Valley - Richard Lockhart

Rhyon Nicole Brown - Erika Crawford

Maureen Flannigan - Mrs. Gamble

Paul Cassel - Ed Gamble

Kendall Schmidt - Damian

Cameron Dye - Damian's Dad

Valerie Perri - Damian's Mom

Frank McRae - Freddie

Kirk Anderson - Vendor

Joshua Boyd - Harlin

Kylee Cochran - Terri

Andres Delgado - Zeke

Liza Del Mundo - Severa

Carla Jimenez - Eloise

Chanet Johnson - Betsy

Alex Kubik - Kurt Vangoss

Beth Lacke - Cheryl

Sumalee Montano - Duvata Mahal

Jimmie Walker - Jay Jay

Craig Watkinson - Russell

Staff:

Bruno Campos - Dr. Eddie Dorset
Scott Grimes - Dr. Archie Morris

Glenn Howerton - Dr. Nick Cooper

Robin Karfo - Dr. Hampton

Abraham Benrubi - Jerry
Deezer D. - Malik
Troy Evans - Frank Martin
Kristin Minter - Randi
Monte Russell - Paramedic Zadro

Lynn A. Henderson - Paramedic Olbes

Michelle Bonilla - Paramedic Harms

Brian Lester - Paramedic Dumar

Craig Watkinson - Russell
Nicholas D'agosto - Med. Student Andy
Shine Nelson - Med. Student Sheila
Rossif Sutherland - Med. Student Lester
Jennifer Jostyn - Prosthetist
Richard Narita - Ortho #1
Lee Ryan - Ortho #2

Doctor Corday and Doctor Dorsett are about to leave for the night shift. Their relationship is beginning to heat-up. Corday questions how she is sneaking out of her house to sleep with Dorsett, but Dorsett disagrees. The face of the ER is changing with the many new nurses and residents. Pratt is becoming irritated with the large amount of medical students that cling to him. Weaver is on her once-a-month night shift to keep her clinical skills intact. Pratt treats an enraged patient named Mathers who has been transferred from Saint T’s Hospital. Eloise, a lady who believes she has been pregnant for seven years, wants to know when her baby will be delivered.

7:35 P.M. – Romano is irritated about getting his new prosthetic Utah arm. Mr. Mather’s Tib-Fib fracture is worked on by Neela, Pratt, and Abby. Weaver comes by for Pratt to present his patients, preempting him from going to the bathroom. Pratt rushes through his presentations. Chen takes over for Neela on a tricky procedure on Mr. Mathers, regardless of Mathers’ racist comments about her ethnicity. Neela feels that Chen is being hard on her because Pratt has been flirting with her. Jing-Mei assures Neela that she is hard on her because she is hard on her other medical students.

One of Pratt’s medical students presents a patient named Ed Gamble. Gamble suddenly couldn’t talk while he was fighting with his wife. Pratt suggests a Neuro exam. Lewis checks out and Morris is MIA. An old lady and her granddaughter come into the ER.

Abby’s loan doesn’t come through. The granddaughter gets upset and tells Weaver and Cooper that her grandmother is a DNR, but isn’t completely sure. Gamble has another silent episode. One of the new nurses is puked on and is freaked out by a dead rat that a patient brings in. She quits right on the spot. Pratt, in his quest to finally get to the bathroom, finds Morris on a cell phone, calling a friend to ask how to do a procedure in a stall. Pratt tells him to hang up and get his butt back to work.

10:01P.M. – Abby goes by to visit Luka. Gillian is leaving for Montreal for a few months. Pratt engages in a phone battle with other departments about Mr. Mathers. Corday is angry with Pratt about bringing her down for an unnecessary consult. Pratt confronts Dr. Hampton about a drug-seeker. When Hampton will not admit her, Pratt has Lester discharge her.

Luka and Abby take a walk. Luka tells Abby about how he is sad and happy to be home. Abby is happy about being free from Carter. Abby hints at making some big decisions with her life but doesn’t want to discuss them. She is called back to the ER before she can finish talking with Luka.

Weaver tells Abby that she is one of the best nurses in the ER. Neela tries to take care of the granddaughter but Weaver tells her to move on with Pratt with other cases. Morris sees a boy who has a quarter in his throat.

A triple MVA rollover enters. Mathers is still enraged. Morris slips away from another patient, leaving Cooper to do a rectal temp. The second victim of the MVA begins coughing up blood, causing Morris to flake out of the trauma. Pratt intibates. Psyche will not come down to see Gamble and Hampton refuses a consult.

Other departments keep getting enraged with Pratt. Abby and Corday meet in the elevators and talk about Corday’s relationship with Dorsett. Corday thinks it is too so to be dating since Mark died. Neela repairs Mr. Mathers’ Tib-Fib. Weaver tells Neela to stop when she doesn’t see a Resident in the room supervising, but Morris is in the next room on his cell phone, oblivious to the case.

Pratt discharges Gamble with orders to talk to Psyche. To ease Mr. Gamble’s whining about not wanting be sent to a shrink, Pratt prescribes him “Obecalp” (Placebo spelled backwards). Neela checks on Erica, the granddaughter. She explains what “DNR” means. Erica lies down to sleep with her grandmother. Pratt tells Neela about getting back to her patients. When Weaver overhears Lester asking Neela what “Obecalp” is, she confronts him about medical misconduct. The Quarter-Kid is still in the hospital. One of Weaver’s patients crashes during a CT scan. In an effort to discharge patients faster, Pratt does a little magic trick to make it appear that he has pulled the quarter out the young boy’s throat. Abby takes over triage as the quarter kid comes back complaining of being nauseous. He coughs up blood all over the triage window. Pratt races out to bring the kid back.

Pratt brings the quarter boy up to surgery where Corday is infuriated about his magic trick. Weaver brings her patient up to surgery right behind Pratt. On his return to the ER, Ed Gamble slumps to the floor. Cooper catches a Carotid Dissection. Mathers is still complaining about being discharged. Abby gets fed up with triage and begins to make a phone call about a loan when she hangs up to check on the grandmother and granddaughter. She finds that grandma is dead and informs Neela. Neela takes Erica to another room to clear the bed. Mathers has calmed down and wonders about how his leg is doing. Mathers is pushing the 14 hour mark and is still waiting on surgery. To speed up the process, Pratt goes up to surgery to help and free up a surgeon to do a consult on Mathers.

Abby calls on her ex-husband, Richard, to ask him to co-sign her loan. He offers to support her, but she refuses. Romano seeks out Pratt to dress him down about the quarter incident. Pratt checks out to Lewis and leaves with Cooper. Pratt breaks his character and thanks Cooper for his help.

This Episode is dedicated to Mitch Hébert.

Reviewed by Taylor Shull on July 27, 2004

NBC Review

WILL GRAVEYARD SHIFT BECOME NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD FOR BRASH DR. PRATT? -- A confident second-year resident Dr. Pratt (Mekhi Phifer) wants to show off during the graveyard shift but his heroics sometimes backfire, especially in his contempt for an asymptomatic husband (guest star Paul Cassel) who temporarily loses his speech -- and in the case of a boy whose treatment is delayed after he swallows a quarter. As Dr. Weaver (Laura Innes) decries the "incompetence" of her staff, she too makes a grievous error while a screaming man (guest star Richard Cox) with a broken leg must wait endless hours and Neela (Parminder Nagra) deals with a little girl (guest star Rhyon Nicole Brown) who arrives with her beloved grandmother whose status is DNR -- "Do Not Resuscitate." Elsewhere, Abby (Maura Tierney) finds herself desperate for money and credit and later meets both Dr. Kovac (Goran Visnjic) and his new girlfriend. Likewise, Dr. Corday (Alex Kingston) warms up to Dr. Dorset (guest star Bruno Campos, "Jesse"). Paul McCrane, Ming-Na, Sherry Stringfield and Sharif Atkins also star.

TV Guide Review

October 23, 2003: Shifts Happen: Pratt and Weaver wind up on the wrong side of two judgment calls during a hellacious night shift that also finds Abby seeking funds for a hush-hush personal endeavor. Meanwhile, second-year resident Coop (Glenn Howerton) proves his worth after a patient develops a mysterious neurological condition.