Patterns

"What we call chaos is just patterns we haven't recognized. What we call random is just patterns we cant decipher. What we can't understand we call nonsense. What we can't read we call gibberish. There is no free will. There are no variables. There is only the inevitable."
Chuck Palahniuk

(That guy wrote Fight Club. Thank you Google.)

I am a person who appreciates patterns. I often find myself examining tile floors to analyze the pattern or lack of. Routines, a valuable part of life, are just patterns of actions and behaviors. While my appreciation of patterns may just be deep enough to cross (slightly?) into the spectrum, it has also proved interesting at work.

I've only been working since 2007, so I don't have scores of case examples yet, but I have been interested to see the patterns in hospital admissions (and thus, therapy referrals) throughout the year. Here are some that I have noticed:

• Wintertime > Icy conditions > hip fractures (we begin with the obvious. However, if you have an elderly female with osteoporosis, you may also get the concurrent FOOSH wrist or humerus fracture on the same side as the hip, one of my least favorite combinations)
  
• Wintertime > Food oriented holiday > CHF exacerbation/volume overload (everyone goes off their cardiac diets, eats salty food, and starts retaining fluid)
  
• Wintertime > Hazardous conditions (e.g. 30 inches of snow in Baltimore UGH) > Exacerbation of ESRD /Volume overload (when the buses won't run and the dialysis centers close down, sessions get missed and fluid builds up)
• Wintertime > Snow shoveling > MI (most demanding household chore?)
  
• Wintertime > space heater use > burns
  
• Summertime > Heat wave > CVA
  
• Summertime > reckless outdoor activity > TBI, SCI, multi trauma, GSW
  
• Summertime > school vacation > joint replacements for teachers (3 months of hip precautions and outpatient PT? No problem)
  
• 3 days before a major holiday > elective surgeries for people who have 1) limited time off work, 2) no attachment to holiday, 3) no family or 4) unrealistic expectations
  

There's a few I can think of off the top of my head. Any other patterns that you notice?