Full House

13th September (Saturday) - Yep, there goes my Saturdays. Things started off with 8 op cases.  You got it, 8 cases, and they are all heavy. Mostly O + G and Ortho cases. Since it's my chance to learn something new, I grab at the opportunity to learn the pre-op. Never got the chance to prepare patients for op, but today I had the chance to pass over the notes to the OT staff. Most importantly, consents have to be signed, with blood group and cross-matched, valuables removed, total Nil by Mouth, site shaved... Looks simple? When you do it personally, it's tough. You need to be quick on your feet and be 100% sure on your passing over, otherwise people will get annoyed. For my case, I did a run through with some of the senior staff nurses, who went through the whole pre-op checklist with me to make sure I know what to do.
Then because there were so many admissions, we were running up and down to make sure we can get clear rooms to get in admissions. Patients form admission are actually running to the ward counters and demanding for rooms, oh... Don't they understand we want to serve them but we have to  get patients to be discharged first? Otherwise where are they going to stay? The treatment room? Uh-uh. Not going to happen. So the moment the profs say "Discharge.", we rush our reports and hurry over to the the billing. And it's a very long queue if you haven't seen the stacks of folders in the billing shelves and the amount of folder stacks in front of each staff.                                                                 Even though it's a total full house, because of staying in that particular ward for one month plus, it doesn't made me stressed at all. I even got the chance to see how to change a Redivac (drain) bottle. Clamp twice, unlock the tubing clamp, connect the new bottle. Oh yes, I even ran into the prof whom often chats with me when I was fetching a patient from the OT. Our conversation is as short as always :

Prof : Hi girl.
Me : Hi prof. Long time no see.
Prof : That's not true girl. I see you all the time.
Me : O.O You do?
Prof : Of course. But you're always running up and down.
Me : Cause I'm always busy prof.
Prof : *laughs* See you later.

Holy. That's scary. The OT boy who helped me in pushing the patient back said to me, "Everyone notices you, girl." And I merely replied I know. Being the only Chinese girl in the ward, I tend to stand out. How I act, how I care for others makes me stick out like a sore thumb. Patients, profs and the various staffs all have no trouble remembering me. Wonder if I should wrap my head with a scarf? ^^ I'm joking.