Hospital Visit

A short while ago I visited my friend L in hospital. As I was with her when the nurse came to take a sample of blood and take her blood pressure and when the physician came to take a history I got to see different examples of healthcare professionals.

The first nurse, who came to take her blood, introduced herself, which many of the others didn’t. She then followed this with “I bring pain”. While this might have been her being honest, I could see from my friend’s face this wasn’t what she wanted to hear! The nurse then asked L about whether she was good with blood, before adding, rather cryptically, “apparently not!” This confused both L and me, as this was the third time L had had blood taken. She quickly located a suitable vein and with little more than a “small scratch” the needle slid in. However, once the needle was in, she continued to wiggle it, which caused my friend more and more pain and discomfort.

If I become a doctor I would hope that my bedside manner was a bit better, and that I’d be more open about what I was doing – I don’t know whether she had to wiggle the needle to get the blood, but if it was essential I think I would have wanted to explain that this was necessary.

The second nurse and the physician were both excellent – the male nurse took her blood pressure, and after telling her what it was, told her that that was good. The physician conducted his examination, while at the same time, explaining what he was looking for (as they still aren’t sure what L has!). He also took a history to allow him to get a more accurate idea of her symptoms, and what potential illnesses it could be, ruling out those which didn’t fit – it couldn’t be dengue fever because the incubation time was too long, it wasn’t malaria because the slides were negative, it wasn’t appendicitis because it had gone on for too long etc.

I thought it was very interesting and was grateful for being allowed to sit in on it. I thought that the main points I got from the physician and the male nurse were that sometimes the patient likes to be included in what’s going on – they want to know why you’re poking their sides, or whether 124 over 69 is good for blood pressure. I understand that there may be instances where patients would rather not know what’s going on, and simply want to get better, but I think that the majority want the circumstances and their options fully explained to them, so that they feel more involved in the decision making.