Have you encountered physicians who makes an ocean out of a drop of water? Well, this article is one of those non-sense moments in which you'll realize as a nurse, that not all hospital duties start or end the way we wanted since there are such people to test us.
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As my remaining months in the hospital comes to a close (for my 2-year work experience goal), a few disturbing happenings occurred during my hospital duties. The following are the scenarios in which the consultants SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF.
Scenario 1 (July 2013)
A 39-week pregnant mother was scheduled for CS or Caesarian Section at 4 am in the morning. Yes, it was 4 am since the morning OR theater rooms are filled for the morning's schedule. This OB-Gyne wrote a prophylaxis medication of Cefazovit1.5 gms IV 1 hour prior to OR. This prewritten order was brought by the pregnant woman upon the arrival at ER. Then, it was endorsed at the pm shift and this was endorsed to us since we were the nightshirt that time. To cut the story short, I carried out the doctor's order and endorsed it to the OR nurse after reading the order per line. After an hour, the nurse supervisor called me and asked me why I gave 1.5 grams where in fact it was only 1.0 grams that was ordered. The OB-Gyne was angry inside the Delivery Room. I came inside the OR to explain my side and she told me (while yelling and getting angry) that I better read orders before injecting medications. The fact is, almost 5 nurses saw the order of the doctor from ER up to the OR as well as the nursing supervisor who double-checks special procedures that would occur in the hospital. Also, the number apparently looks .5 since it was superimposed with double strokes over zero as far as we can remember. I don't know if it was a matter of misunderstanding but everyone was at my side including the Chief Nurse who saw the order as well. It really looked like a .5 superimposed over zero. But to think of it, it's not actually a stuff to sweat about if it we're really just 1 gram. Besides, it was just a prophylaxis and the patient is well-off, kind and not demanding. The anesthesiologist even told the OB-Gyne to just brush it off and I just give the remaining .5 to the patient at the ward. End of story.
Scenario 2 (First week of August 2013)
We had a Korean patient who was in an accident who can understand and speak little English. The surgeon who was at deck that time was known to be a demanding and greedy one. During the morning rounds, he met with the patient together with her Korean interpreter who was quite demanding as well. To cut the story short, I gave the prescription to the interpreter for the medications that would be used and she would just to pick that up in the Pharmacy. After 30 minutes, I received a call and this surgeon was yelling at me, asking why I gave them the prescription and so on and so forth. His point was, there's a language barrier that might occur. I told him I gave it to the interpreter and not directly to the patient's husband who was Korean as well. In short, the surgeon wants us nurses, to get the medications directly to the pharmacy, which isn't our responsibility by the way. Since we are kind nurses, I just accepted so no further arguments would follow. Why there's a need to yell and be angry where in fact the surgeon was asking for a favor at the same time? One of my worst days.
Scenario 3 (Last week of August 2013)
My favorite surgeon from scenario 2 had a patient again who was scheduled for EGD. My partner carried out his orders and brought the notification to the operating room at around 10 am. To cut the story short, the surgeon got angry because he was notified at 3.30 pm that the scope was defective. It was an honest mistake of the OR nurses but what they did was to scapegoat and put the blame on us ward nurses by saying that we brought the notification at 3.30 pm. The surgeon called me at the phone and for the second time, yelled at me, telling me the patient should have been discharged already before the cut-off at 1 pm. At first I didn't know, what time my partner brought the notification to the OR since I was busy doing other stuff. But then, the nursing supervisor called my partner and she told the supervisor that the midwife brought the notification at around 10 am. The truth is, again, it seems to be not a big deal at all since this surgeon is always known to always extend the patient's admission to charge bigger professional fees based from first-hand experience from us nurses. At the phone, he was like a Saint acting like a patient's advocate who wants to discharge the patient ASAP. Second, the patient has an HMO who really don't care about their hospital charges. Our ward by the way is a private ward with a few semi-private rooms. Another non-sense duty.
These were one of my major hurtful circumstances at the hospital which made a stronger nurse by the way.
I think God wants to teach me things that I need for the future:
For me to be more patient with these kinds of situations
For me to be more faithful that God is still working his way even at such inevitable and unfair circumstances
For me to develop my Emotional Quotient
And for me as well to NOT TO SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF as these are just also petty problems not to take seriously.
