Attitude of Healthcare Professionals

Yesterday I went to HUKM to visit my aunt in spinal ward. She has been in hospital for 3 weeks now (1 week in ICU). Really, things happened all of a sudden and we would never know what fate will befall us. My aunt slipped and fell on her back, her cried for help alerted the neighbour and she was then sent to HUKM.

Due to my workload, I could only visit her yesterday, but my mum has been filling me in with her condition. I woke up at 6.30 p.m. yesterday so that I would be able to meet the doctors who went on ward-rounds at 8 a.m.

I saw how the dr. did palpitation on her, with all the medical students surrounding the bed. He broke a 'satay stick' and pricked my aunt's body to determine her sensory function. The medical students were busy jotting down notes and flipping through the bed-head ticket. I also heard student asking dr. about 'augmentin' which he said that it was started due to the lung infection. (the dr. later told me that even healthy people like us, if lie down on bed for too long, can be proned to lung infection too. I would think that another factor is nosocomial infection.)


After that, I got to talk to the dr. personally. The dr. told me that my aunt has injured her cervical vertebra, thus surgeries had to be done to straighten it (last week they performed surgery to put a plate around the neck region, another plate couldn't be placed  coz her bp was low at that time so another surgery is scheduled) He said that even after surgery, she needs to undergo physiotherapy to restore her muscle tone. Even the surgeons cannot foresee the prognosis as yet. At least, my aunt's condition has improved- she could now move her toes and fingers now, unlike previously.  


She is still bedridden though. So my mum helped her to clean and comb her hair, while I helped 
to massage her body. I could feel that her body is stiff; it is inevitable since she has been lying there for so long and thus have poor blood circulation.


Later on, I went to flip through the bed-head ticket which was left there. I was only done with one page when the nurse told me that I am not allowed to read. What is this man. Medical students could read, and I am the patient's niece!! I didn't want to argue so I let it be. However, I must say that what I saw yesterday, with hordes of medical students wearing white coat following doctors(no white coat<--yes that is how you distinguish between medical dr. and students, apart from the age) reminded me of what Mr. D said 'Patients should not be viewed as a case.'  I think the manner in which the medical student talks to the patient is important.


I do think that it can be a good thing coz patient finds it hard to pass time in hospital. If the student can chat with them while eliciting medical info, it is good. 
However, I wonder does patient ever feel that their privacy being intruded when a specialist 
performs check-up on her with many pairs of eyes gazing and jotting down notes??

The fact is, most of the patients who are in government hospitals are from low-income group. Those  things won't even be their concern, for what they need to tackle at hand is the cost of the medical bill. Patients in government hospital also dare not offend nurses who are taking care of them. My uncle told me that the nurses asked this guy (patient's bro) who was visiting this patient next door to clean up his faeces. This guy rebutted something   like 'this is supposed to be your job!! I am going to complain you!' Guess what? The nurses retaliated by not opening the ward door for him the next time he came to visit.


My mother and I had our fair share of the nurses' 'treatment' while we were waiting for the
doctors to finish their ward round. This is because the stipulated visiting times are 12 noon and 4.30-7 p.m., not in the morning. I also felt that those nurses like to give you this look and the sense of them being in charge. Could it be that they have to work under doctors that they need to find an avenue to exert their authority?? Generally we do not have good impression on nurses in government hospital, do we?Probably we can only get the impression that nurses are caring, nurses being Nightingale at private hospitals like Assunta and Pantai.


Then there is this malay medical student who came to flip the bed-head ticket next door. When my uncle approached him, he told my uncle in a humble tone, (in BM) 'I am only  a medical student. I am doing my case'.  I wonder how many medical students will retain that humble attitude when they work as medical officers.


In fact, our uni has our fair share of medical students with the wrong attitude. CW said that her ex-housemate used to heard these bunch of medic guys in cafeteria talking 'Good. More accidents like this are good to us. It will bring us more customers' WTH!!!! We also have this dude in sem 4  who exclaimed loudly in public when he saw a girl's cleavage. Apparently, he had been kicked out from school before.
We also have medical students in our uni who think that they are a class above pharmacy students.
Of couse, pharmacy has its fair share of rowdy guys who speak foul words and act impulsively who tarnish pharmacy's reputation.


However, there are nice people in every field; so give yourself a chance to know each individual a chance. Never stereotype them!


 
p/s: Everyone should move on from the cheerleading's results. This person called yele (read backwards) in youtube has been such a two-faced person in the Planet and our team's video. On one hand she complimented us, on the other, she gave like 3 lengthy comments
on how brutally their team has been critisized, and implied that the pharm ppl don't know english well and/or hard to express their feelings. HELLO??  Because I am magnanimous, I shall not sink to her level
and give her a piece of my mind.