2 things happened at work today which I would like to share here.
Story 1
There are some cases which are done in elective OTs. For these cases, dates are given in advance, so the patient can prepare and just get admitted 1 or 2 days before their op. They would usually see the anaesthetist prior to the op.
About 2 weeks ago, Dr. Z gave me the list for 16th of this month, and told me to call all the patients scheduled for op that day and pre-pone the cases to another date because Dr. A who is supposed to be doing the op won't be around.
There were 3 names on the list.
1 could not be contacted.
My friend,L, managed to contact one of the people on the list.
And I managed to contact one of the people on the list.
L documented in all the tickets regarding the change of dates.
The patient I contacted said that she was in another state and had some family matters and so would prefer to postpone the op.
I got her a new date and called her back and gave her the new date.
Today, I received a call from Dr. Z regarding the patient that I called.
The patient came for a routine check up at our clinic today and claimed that no one called her, and she did not know that the date has been changed.
So, I went down to the clinic myself.
She was talking in a loud voice, angrily, demanding to know who was it that said that she has been informed.
I told her that it was me.
She turned to me and said, "Excuse me, but not one called me..."
I didn't let her finish (sensing that she would probably never finish talking) and said "I called you, and you said you were in ...... because ........)
She stopped talking.
Dr. Z got a call asking him to go to the OT and he took the chance and escaped.
The lady started mumbling something about mixing up this and that and finally said that she thought it was the dental doctor calling her about her dental appointment.
(I remember clearly, telling her that I was calling her regarding her O&G surgery, but I just let it pass).
She was finally given a new date, but up to the end, she did not admit that she did a mistake and she did not apologize for raising her voice - she said that she had a miscommunication with me and that was it. At one point, she was basically trying to blame me, saying I did not clearly say that I called regarding her O&G surgery.
ARGH!!
Story 2
A lady was referred from the A&E.
Single, 19 year old.
Fainted somewhere.
BP in A&E was low.
Came to the ward, BP was normal.
But she seemed to be lethargic.
Able to answer questions though.
When her mother was not around, we asked about her sexual history, and she admitted to having sexual intercouse last month - never had sex prior to that.
Said her last period was last month.
That history, combined with the fact that her urine test was positive for pregnancy and that she has left sided abdominal pain, we thought of ectopic pregnancy, naturally.
Then, we saw the A&E notes, and they suspected an abruptio placenta, with a pregnancy of about 32 weeks.
We were shocked.
What?
We palpated the stomach - 2 of us did- nope, can't feel the uterus.
Specialist came for rounds at the same time - bring the scan machine, he said.
He scanned.
It was a pregnancy of about 34 weeks.
The MO laughed at us.
"How do you guys take history?"
"How do you guys examine the abdomen"
Embarassing.
Yet, funny.
Patient was eventually sent to the labour room.
(she still insisted that she had her menses last month)
Haih....
Story 1
There are some cases which are done in elective OTs. For these cases, dates are given in advance, so the patient can prepare and just get admitted 1 or 2 days before their op. They would usually see the anaesthetist prior to the op.
About 2 weeks ago, Dr. Z gave me the list for 16th of this month, and told me to call all the patients scheduled for op that day and pre-pone the cases to another date because Dr. A who is supposed to be doing the op won't be around.
There were 3 names on the list.
1 could not be contacted.
My friend,L, managed to contact one of the people on the list.
And I managed to contact one of the people on the list.
L documented in all the tickets regarding the change of dates.
The patient I contacted said that she was in another state and had some family matters and so would prefer to postpone the op.
I got her a new date and called her back and gave her the new date.
Today, I received a call from Dr. Z regarding the patient that I called.
The patient came for a routine check up at our clinic today and claimed that no one called her, and she did not know that the date has been changed.
So, I went down to the clinic myself.
She was talking in a loud voice, angrily, demanding to know who was it that said that she has been informed.
I told her that it was me.
She turned to me and said, "Excuse me, but not one called me..."
I didn't let her finish (sensing that she would probably never finish talking) and said "I called you, and you said you were in ...... because ........)
She stopped talking.
Dr. Z got a call asking him to go to the OT and he took the chance and escaped.
The lady started mumbling something about mixing up this and that and finally said that she thought it was the dental doctor calling her about her dental appointment.
(I remember clearly, telling her that I was calling her regarding her O&G surgery, but I just let it pass).
She was finally given a new date, but up to the end, she did not admit that she did a mistake and she did not apologize for raising her voice - she said that she had a miscommunication with me and that was it. At one point, she was basically trying to blame me, saying I did not clearly say that I called regarding her O&G surgery.
ARGH!!
Story 2
A lady was referred from the A&E.
Single, 19 year old.
Fainted somewhere.
BP in A&E was low.
Came to the ward, BP was normal.
But she seemed to be lethargic.
Able to answer questions though.
When her mother was not around, we asked about her sexual history, and she admitted to having sexual intercouse last month - never had sex prior to that.
Said her last period was last month.
That history, combined with the fact that her urine test was positive for pregnancy and that she has left sided abdominal pain, we thought of ectopic pregnancy, naturally.
Then, we saw the A&E notes, and they suspected an abruptio placenta, with a pregnancy of about 32 weeks.
We were shocked.
What?
We palpated the stomach - 2 of us did- nope, can't feel the uterus.
Specialist came for rounds at the same time - bring the scan machine, he said.
He scanned.
It was a pregnancy of about 34 weeks.
The MO laughed at us.
"How do you guys take history?"
"How do you guys examine the abdomen"
Embarassing.
Yet, funny.
Patient was eventually sent to the labour room.
(she still insisted that she had her menses last month)
Haih....
1 comment:
Though our workload is much more heavy if compared to other profession and also more stressful, yet it is very happening. We need to have scientific knowledge and good public relation skills, which is a combination of science and art.
I guess our daily experience as a houseman can be compiled and published a book....hehe
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