Thursday, October 12, 2006

In Ward 42

I'm enjoying it all! I really am! Still wondering why many of my peers were telling me that attachment in the hospital is crazy, extremely busy, stressful, tiring etc.

Really that bad meh? (Gabriel was at a loss for words when I told him I enjoyed my first week of attachment).

A new patient was being admitted on Saturday, I think. When I first saw her on Monday, I felt like crying after seeing the state that she was in; on NGT feeding, both hands swollen due to water retention, bruises on right upper limb, unable to speak, first stage pressure ulcer on right knee.

She's still fighting on hard to survive though. And I was permitted to attempt my very first NGT feeding on this particular patient. Her maid has been real helpful too! Telling me to remain calm while pouring the feeds into the tube and while doing the aspiration. This is the sort of maid worth paying for. Not that other maids are inferior to her, but she stays by the old lady's bedside day and night! Plus, she craps with me ALOT during my shift so many thumbs up for her!

The patient whom I did my case study on has been discharged. Yvonne (Tan) and I are missing her like crazy!! I've heard dozens of stories about patients who're fussy and unpleasant to work with, but this patient is one in a million; very understanding and obliging.

I'm bad at taking blood pressure results; everyone's aware of this. So when Mrs Chia asked me to take TPR and BP for someone, I picked this patient without hesitation. It's not that I'm taking advantage of her kindness or anything, but I knew for a fact that I would screw up my first BP reading and would have to retake it. If I were to keep pumping air into the arm-band for someone else, he/she would've definately blown up in my face cause of all the discomfort. But not this lovely patient of mine. All she did was lay on her bed, took deep breaths, encouraged me on and when Mrs Chia left, she told me, "Girl, if you're unclear about anything, must ask your lecturer... that way, you'll learn better."

I shall remember those words for a long, long time.

Erm, this entry abit too emo hor? Ok, time to let loose and get into some bitching!

I ABSOLUTELY HATE, HATE, HATE THIS ONE STAFF NURSE WHO'S SUCH AN ATTENTION SEEKER!

Yeah, yeah! My coursemates and I are on our very first posting and we know nuts about certain routines and procedures. Our fault ah? We've only been in this course for ONE SEMESTER! How much do you expect us to know?

I am so beginning to hate people who place satellite-high expectations on me.

As I was saying, this nurse (let's call her J) is fucking annoying! During role-calls, she would be standing right in front of us, first year students, and showing that I-know-alot-of-nursing-procedures-and-I-have-thick-makeup-on-my-face-to-cover-my-chickenpox-marks expression WHICH I SIMPLY CAN'T TOLERATE! Tak cantik nak step jambu eh? Tak pass lah bongok!

Here's something which you all should know; I do not puton make-up or use contact lenses during attachment. Hey, it's an eight hour shift and I'm there to WORK and LEARN! So my hair's not waxed, I'm in my orange specs, my freckles and outbreaks are visible... AND I LOOK LIKE A TOTAL DISASTER!

So on Monday, I was on the same shift as J (can I be anymore unlicky?!) and some Advanced Diploma assholes. I was standing at the corner of the nurses' station, flipping through the assignment book and MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS, when the three adv. diploma asses took pleasure in laughing at my appearance.

How did they notice me, I don't know. Maybe my specs were too outstanding or my outbreaks too obvious or simply because I WAS TOO UGLY!!

Whatever the reason was, I want to be ugly, I problem right? They laugh at me and make fun of my specs still not enough leh! Must exclaim loudly, "Eh, J, why you today never wear your that pair of specs ah?" and J replied very spontaneously, "Why? Want me to look like old mother hen mah?"

Nabeh! These people do nothing but spol my overall impression of PROFESSIONAL NURSES. I'm surprised that this week's batch of advanced diploma students are so different from last week's. The previous group were more helpful and took time off their duties to guide us. This current group? I don't see them in the ward all that often. maybe they spend half their time in the changing room, applying more powder to their noses to cover up their zits and moles. Sickening.

Another incident that caused even more bad blood between J and I was when Mrs Chia asked me to take the case sheet on the patient whom I was doing my assignment on and she went through it with me; showing me where to look for the patient's allergies, medical diagnosis, reason(s) for admission etc.

So once we were done, I took the case sheet back to the rack and miss nurse J who happened to be my in-charge for the day (did I ever tell you I'm the most unlucky dike ever?) asked in a very sarcastic tone, "Which case sheet of mine do you wanna take with you this time round?"

EH! What do you mean by "take"?! Case sheet belongs to you ah?! I have an assignment on hand at the moment and it was my lecturer who wanted to discuss it with me! So who should I listen to now? hmm? My lecturer who has a degree in Nursing or an ordinary staff nurse with a measly salary and only a diploma in health science? The choice is obvious. Two more reason to pick my lecturer over you:

1) She owns traits which a nurse SHOULD have and

2) she's gonna be the one that grades me

Want me to act goody-goody with you? What do I get at the end of the day? A fake smile from you?! tsk.

You suck. And so do those three cina advanced dip. students (one of whom has a fucking dark mole on her right cheek just above her lip and yes, she looks like a prostitute.)

Now, it's time for some bimbo-ing!

A very cute medical student from NUS started work at the hospital around the same time as us. He's CUTE alright!!! He likes smoked salmon sandwiches from Delifrance... hahahaha!!

AND HE SPOKE TO ME!!! Whee!!! That's something to rejoice about.

But the sad thing about him speaking to me was only to ask if I knew where the blood cultural bottles were. -_-" I look like I know meh? Nvm.

Wei Hsin and I were desperately trying to read his name-tag. But for some reason or another ah, his name-tag is either very crooked (so can only see the surname) or pinned on too low (hidden behind shirt pocket).

I vented my frustrations to Yvonne T. about not being able to get the Doc.'s name and Yvonne said, "Which doctor? That one ah? Aiyah, his name is Mark Tan."

HOW SHE KNOW HIS NAME?!!! OMG!!!

Mark Tan. Mark Tan. Mark Tan. Mark Tan. Mark Tan.

Last Friday, Doctor Tan was supposed to draw blood from this cute little old gentleman from room 5. I was at the nurses' station listening to Sister Barbara's "speech" when I released Nadirah and Wei Hsin were nowhere in sight. I went to look for them and found them in Room 5 with the cute doctor who was trying his utmost best to draw blood! Hahaha! His hands were shivering as he tried to locate the vein, his face was drenched with perspiration and there was a drop hanging on the tip of his nose!!!!!

WAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After three tries, he was still unable to get the amount of blood he wanted and this Burmese staff nurse came into the room, saw his face all drenched and exclaimed a very loud "WAH!!!" then proceeded on to laugh.

She volunteered to draw out the blood and SHE MANAGED TO DO IT IN ONE TRY! The cute doctor was going, "Alright man! Erm, is there anything I can do for you? Ok, I help you clear all the wrappers".

Darn hilarious! Usually it's the doctor that does the drawing of blood and the nurse clears up after him. But this time round, it's on the contrary. LoL!

Working afternoon shift later on. Dang! Can only leave at 9pm (I so hope I don't have to work with J). Byebye!