Flattered (and bewildered) as I was to receive an invitation to be a regular cranky old woman, I’m not always like this you know. I try to be happy, serene and content. But it’s sometimes very hard not to scream with frustration.
I recently had surgery on a little finger that was never going to get any better without intervention, and the admitting sister asked me a lot of questions. I patiently responded, although I had answered all these questions on a sheet of paper which I mailed to the hospital a couple of weeks before. Then I answered them again the day before, when someone from the hospital rang for pre-op checks. So all of my responses had been recorded at least twice. But they’re trying to ensure no errors, so I went through the answers for the 3rd time, and reached the stage where I had a giddy set of colourful bands on my RIGHT wrist: a white bracelet giving my name and other personal details; a red bracelet saying ALLERGIC TO MORPHINE and a vivid orange bracelet saying NO BLOOD OR OTHER PROCEDURES ON RIGHT ARM.
I could see this might cause a problem since the surgery was on my left hand and the other would be more convenient, but she assured me they could use my leg for their procedures, and then promptly put a blood pressure cuff on my right arm. I removed it, stared at her, pointed at the orange bracelet and said gently, No, no procedures on this arm, remember? Oh, she said, I forgot. She forgot? We had had a long conversation about it, she had selected a bracelet to warn the doctors, and then promptly forgot.
Now I read that good old Dr Kevin Mudd wants nurses to take over some of the work of doctors to ease the burden of the medicos. Sorry? We don’t have enough doctors? Let us train some more. Let’s choose the best of the nurses and put them through medical school to qualify as doctors, and then, hmmm, this is the hard bit, we’d have to PAY them as doctors.
Don’t get me wrong here, I march every time nurses fight for more pay. They are among the kindest, most thoughtful, careful, caring and patient people I have ever met, and they are much better at giving injections than any doctor. But they are not doctors, and they are not qualified to take on medical evaluation, diagnosis, and prescribing of medicines. I know many of them are capable, but until they have qualified as medical doctors I cannot rely on them. I won’t rely on them. And they won’t diagnose me.
Ana Thema
I recently had surgery on a little finger that was never going to get any better without intervention, and the admitting sister asked me a lot of questions. I patiently responded, although I had answered all these questions on a sheet of paper which I mailed to the hospital a couple of weeks before. Then I answered them again the day before, when someone from the hospital rang for pre-op checks. So all of my responses had been recorded at least twice. But they’re trying to ensure no errors, so I went through the answers for the 3rd time, and reached the stage where I had a giddy set of colourful bands on my RIGHT wrist: a white bracelet giving my name and other personal details; a red bracelet saying ALLERGIC TO MORPHINE and a vivid orange bracelet saying NO BLOOD OR OTHER PROCEDURES ON RIGHT ARM.
I could see this might cause a problem since the surgery was on my left hand and the other would be more convenient, but she assured me they could use my leg for their procedures, and then promptly put a blood pressure cuff on my right arm. I removed it, stared at her, pointed at the orange bracelet and said gently, No, no procedures on this arm, remember? Oh, she said, I forgot. She forgot? We had had a long conversation about it, she had selected a bracelet to warn the doctors, and then promptly forgot.
Now I read that good old Dr Kevin Mudd wants nurses to take over some of the work of doctors to ease the burden of the medicos. Sorry? We don’t have enough doctors? Let us train some more. Let’s choose the best of the nurses and put them through medical school to qualify as doctors, and then, hmmm, this is the hard bit, we’d have to PAY them as doctors.
Don’t get me wrong here, I march every time nurses fight for more pay. They are among the kindest, most thoughtful, careful, caring and patient people I have ever met, and they are much better at giving injections than any doctor. But they are not doctors, and they are not qualified to take on medical evaluation, diagnosis, and prescribing of medicines. I know many of them are capable, but until they have qualified as medical doctors I cannot rely on them. I won’t rely on them. And they won’t diagnose me.
Ana Thema
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