A Very Grateful Patient

I met a very grateful patient today. She was admitted for treatment of her illness. This involved receiving IV infusion of a drug for a few days. When I was clerking her in, she mentioned that the last time she was in the hospital, there was extreme difficulty in inserting a cannula. She admits that she does not have good veins and added that it would take about 5 tries before a cannula is inserted successfully. She was badly bruised and in pain by the end of her treatment at that time. Hence, the consultant told her that NO JUNIOR DOCTOR is allowed to insert a cannula into her in the future.

My experience so far as a junior member of this profession has taught me that never ever ask a senior doctor to insert a cannula unless you failed miserably. (otherwise, you'll get unhappy seniors). So I decided to coax the patient into letting me try. She was quite happy for me to do so. My first attempt failed. To be honest, I was rather nervous while carrying out that procedure for fear that I would have to try many times before I gain success. However, I managed to get it in on my 2nd attempt! =) I was rather happy and so was the patient......to the extent that she gave me a HUGGIE!!!!

haha...It was really awkward for me because all I did for her was insert the cannula....it wasn't like it was a matter of life or death, and she was UBER grateful! After that, she started telling everyone in the ward about how good I was at that procedure, and how caring I was. Boy, talk about gaining a reputation for that!