Shitty Day

Today just kicked off badly from the moment the clock turned 00:00 hours.

First, I could not sleep. I tossed and turned, tossed and turned, tried to count the number of sheeps that were jumping across the fence, tossed and turned again......before I finally fell asleep god knows how many hours later. My guess is 2 am. Then I woke up suddenly thinking that I have overslept, turned to look at the clock, and the time was only 3.27 am. I thought my eyes were playing games on me, so I double checked the time using my handphone. My eyes were not telling any lies. This trend went on until it was 6 am, when I finally decided that there was no point in sleeping anymore.

Secondly, the ward was totally chaotic this morning. There were outpatient clinic running in the ward, outpatient blood tests, elective surgical patients waiting for their turn to go to theatre, and of course, the acute admissions too. The nurses were flapping. They did not know how to cope with the work load...so everything was in a mess. When asked to do something, it would take them a long time before it was being done. But what really angers me is this "4 hour policy." I mean, hello, if you want to make it a 4 hour policy, make sure you do your job too. Stop hassling me to review patient X or patient Y, when you haven't even given the poor pyrexial child his Calpol!

Patients who were waiting for their blood test were getting impatient...Think there were about 3 of them. All the acute admissions came in a bus. So there were about 6-7 of them that came in together. So everyone was getting impatient! But hey, there is only one of me. I have to see these admissions, and do the blood tests for those outpatient ones. You just got to be patient people!!

Anyway, talking about impatience.....One of the parents yesterday were extremely grumpy. The moment I called their young daughter in for her blood test.....the first thing that came out from her mother's mouth was, "I'm no waiting for the ECG. Hospital X has looked at her heart, and the cardiology people said her heart is fine. I'm no waiting for another ECG to be done here."

She was refering to the ECG that has been requested for her. As usual, Monday mornings are always busy for such procedures, hence, the waiting time to get a simple ECG done is longer. The worse thing was, she also said, "I am no listening to a single word from that woman. Whatever she told me in the clinic was utter nonsense. I don't believe a single word she said. She didn't even tell me that the reason I'm here is for my wee girl to have some many blood tests and this ECG." She was speaking in a very angry manner. She added that, "I don't want to see her ever again...am not going back to her clinic ever again. I will get re-referred to another doctor."

I was confused, wondering who she was refering to as that woman. I asked her what she meant. I soon found out that she was talking about the consultant whom she met at the outpatient clinic. Honestly, I couldn't understand why she would say such a thing about that consultant because she is a really nice person.

She also asked me the reason for all the tests...and I informed her it was because her daughter is a bit small for her size. Mum thinks she's just petite. But guess she didn't realise that her wee daughter is also dysmorphic. Anyway, after kicking so much fuss, I asked her, "So do you still want me to proceed with these blood tests then?" "Aye...just do it," mum replied. Now, if you don't plan to see this consultant again, why do you still want to proceed with the tests?? I don't get her at all.

So everything was starting to boil my fire. The other thing that pissed me off was when this nurse came up to me and asked, "Can we transfer this baby to the next ward?"

"No, because she needs a cannula and blood tests before she can go across," I said.

"Why now when she's been here for more than 5 hours???" this nurse said.

arrghh...not this whole bloody 4 hour policy thing again!!! So I told her, "Well, she just had her ametop on about 20 minutes ago...so I'll need to let it work first before proceeding. Moreover, the decision about doing the blood test was made not too long ago."

She cheekily answered, "It needs to be done NOW."

What the fuck man.... when we decide to do the blood test is really up to us. You have been working in this paediatric unit for a longer time than me. You should know that we do not like bleeding kids unless it is really necessary. Sometimes I wish I could tell her, "Look, who is the doctor here." But then again, I hate being condescending and I do not want to be rude to her either.

It was such a shitty day. Glad it is all over. Knackered now.