-Sigh-
I was being stared for "disturbing" the client too many times today.
It is by protocol that we have to monitor our clients for their vitals after operation and it is being done so every hour as far as possible. And this relative was not happy because we disturb the client too much. I explained to her it is our job to make sure that the client is safe and there is no complications and she "attacked" me "then how is she going to rest?".
Sian.
Rest is no doubt important, but isn't safety important too? Imagine I just left her alone to rest and if let's say she bled and bled and blood pressure dropped drastically who is going to answer for it?
The relative was obviously NOT HAPPY with the answer.
Sometimes it gets very difficult for us if the client don't cooperate with us. I really have the urge to tell her something like "you know what, actually our job is much easier if we don't have to come every hour, but for the safety for the client, we HAVE TO."
It could be quite crude but it is true.
At times I find that clients were not happy that we are disturbing them all the time, taking as that we have nothing better to do but to disturb them, but did they ever consider that if we do that we are actually giving ourselves more job? Then why do we still have to do it? It is FOR THEM.
Haiz.
Today was talking to Su about this. Somehow I just feel that people always have the misconception that nurses are like those on TV, only walking about with the hands in the pocket all the time, or sitting at the counter reading magazine, then at times just take temperature for patients.
And here I am telling you...
IT IS NOT TRUE AT ALL.
In actual fact, I have never put my hands in pocket when I am at work because there are simply too many things to handle. We are not the "TV nurse", there is actually more in nursing, so much so that sometimes I really feel like laughing about things that we would do, digging dustbin is so often to us, writing loads of reports, giving medicine, watching our clients and look out for any complications or abnormalities, communicate between the doctors, clients and the other health care team... We don't just poke clients for nothing, there are reasons for everything we do at work. We are handling life, something that once lose is gone, there is no way to bring it back.
Haiz.
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Sometimes I really can't get it.
Some parents would bring their kids along to the hospital to visit their friends, it is absolutely fine, only if they LOOK AFTER their kids. I'll get very very irritated everytime when the parents bring the kids to visit their friends but left them running about chasing, shouting, screaming and laughing at the corridor. Imagine if anyone of them bum into us who sometimes are holding all the needles and sharps and everything in the kidney dish just fell onto their little heads, who is going to be responsible? If the client happens to have some infectious disease, and the needle poke the kid, and the kid get infected, it is gonna be the rest of their life! Isn't it too late to blame anyone then?
Haiz.
The thing is, when we asked the kids not to run about because it's dangerous and the kid cry, it would become our fault. The parents would blame you complaining about you and things, it is TOUGH. There was once that this colleague told the kid, "if you want to run ask your parents to bring you to the zoo or park, this is a hospital" and the staff said she got a complain letter for that.
*Headache*
To add to all these, imagine if the client in the next bed complaining about the noise, and we have to ask the people to keep the volume down, somehow I felt at times I would hear all the cursing behind me when I walk out of the cubicle.
I guess it is all self awareness then when it is impossible to ban kids from hospital like one of my colleagues said before.
Tomorrow is weekend, and I am hoping for a good one. =)
