Clinical Day: 3
Today was my 3rd day at Clinicals and my first day interacting with a Doctor. To be honest, I was so disgusted by the way the Doctor treated and acted around the patient. She was a slightly over weight woman who had recently undergone surgery. She was in pain but had refused her morning pain meds. I went in to change her linen and give her a bed bath with another student and all was going well. She really enjoyed the bed bath, especially because I made the water nice and hot like she asked. She was talkative and polite and never had a problem with the way we washed her until the Doctor came in. He wanted to check her breathing on her back so he had us flip her on her side, but that wasn’t good enough for him. He pushed her harder against the railing and she began to scream out in pain, and cry. Instead of easing up on how much pressure he was putting her under, he told her to stop and cooperate with him. I immediately shot him a dirty look and tried to comfort her in whatever way I could without letting go of her. She tried to smile at me through her tears but I could tell she was still in a lot of pain. As soon as the Doctor was done he put her back down and began to speak to me and my friend about what we could do to prevent Thrombosis in a patient so large. He went on to say that if overweight people took care of themselves, patients wouldn’t have such severe problems as her. Um………. what?! How can he talk about a patient like that right in front of her?! I felt horrible for this poor woman, she was hurt and was supposed to be healing yet this man was here, hurting her and insulting her on top of everything else. She may be overweight but she is still a human being with feelings and she still deserves respect and care.
I told the nurse about her pain and the nurse immediately got her the pain medication she wanted. The nurse also told me that some of the doctors don’t see the patients as people, they see them as ways to exploit money and they don’t exactly take the greatest care or caution around them. Then she mentioned under her breath about them being “rich petty assholes with a God complex”.
After the Doctor and the nurse left, I helped her re-dress and put all her IV wires back in place, and she thanked me and my fellow student. I told her it was wonderful to meet her and I wished her a well and healthy recovery. She seemed pleased with us and laughed as we left her room. I couldn’t believe that a Doctor would ever treat a patient like that. That was so unkind. So unbelievably unkind.
The rest of the day I spent checking vitals, talking to different patients about their stay and their recovery. I’m honestly so happy with my Clinicals and the people I work with. :)
