Hammerblow

15th December (Monday) - How troublesome. I got all of my documents ready to claim, with photocopies and original in tow. The Sister in my ward is on a long leave, which leaves only the really mean boss. I say mean, but she's worse than that. Even the worst person I had ever faced is nicer than her. Just to give you the surface, she's arrogant and cares no one but herself. She treats you nice when you first came in, but once you start working under her, her whole personality changes. The nice lady whom greeted you warmly by the hand with her sweet, jokey yet firm tone is gone, replaced by an evil twin. If you are a Dr/ Prof/ Matron/ VIP/ VVIP/ HRH then she'll laugh and joke with you. If you are just a staff nurse/ newbie/ freshee, she treats you like dirt. Sorry to say, but it's true.
I went to find her with dread, my throat dry, my heart beating hard, like how a prey gets cornered by the predator. I then approached her in a room and told her, politely and softly about my claim for the gastroscopy since I paid in cash (And it was no small amount, even if you are staff.) First she took a look at my MC, then gave me a bullocking, saying it is un-authorized, not legal, all the negative stuff. "Who say you can take MC? You're working for four months now and you think doing a gastro or colon scope patient can just run back home?" Excuse me, Sister, but I had wanted to come to work, even the prof asked me to come in the morning so that I can go to work for my noon shift. What no one expected was the sedation was so strong, my body couldn't cope and I ended up half-slumping to the point where the girl had to assist me. Even prof was like, "No. You must take MC. Otherwise you might faint in the ward." I know if any doctor/ anaest/ prof gave you a sedation and deemed you aren't to fit for work, you must take a MC. If he/she are the type that doesn't care, they might just wave an airy hand. "Oh, sure, go on, you can go for work." Then, say if you are unlucky, you suddenly drop while working, inquiries will be made, reports had to be made, the WHATs, WHOs, WHYs, WHENs, WHEREs, HOWs will be spilling all over. "Why is this staff working when she was given sedation?" "Who is the one who allowed her to come to work?" "What was the procedure this staff went?" "When did she did the procedure?" "How is she allowed to come to work?" Exactly. And buying MC is illegal, and only a LICENSED MEDICAL PRACTITIONER is allowed to sign the MC for you. He wanted to give me two days, but I insisted on one. The way she says it, it's as though I forced the prof to give me the MC.
Then to my claim form with the petty cash voucher. She took a look at my bill and demanded the original. I brought it in my bag and she said, "Come back at 2.30 pm." even though I could just run up the stairs, grab the bill, and run back down. She told me haughtily, "I worked here for 14 years and I know how long does it take for you to run up, grab your things, and back down. 5 minutes. You think I'm going to wait for you for 5 minutes? I got things to do within 5 minutes." Urgh, seriously, that's what she said. I know this type of people, these are the type that always think they are right, and everything should be done their way, no alternative methods allowed. Because like a fool, I took less than 5 minutes since I ran like crazy, grab the original copy of my bill and wanted to hand it to her, she yelled at me and demanded me to get out as she was Whatsapp-ing. You would think she could at least have the courtesy to just take it and lay it aside on the desk. Nope, she chased me out and demanded 2.30 means 2.30. (And she say we're only allowed to see the Sisters in their ROOMs, NOT THE CORRIDORS, NOT THE PANTRY within our shift, AND NOT AFTER 2.30.)
Dear God, if that wasn't bad enough, I got yelled by the senior staff nurse for spending 2 hours plus in Datin's room for her dressing...again, to the point where the CI stepped in and pulled me aside for a little chat. No, she isn't mad at me for helping Datin, but 2 hours plus is too much. I agreed too, because it's not fair to my colleagues (whom had all ganged up to complain that I always spent too long in Datin's room, unable to do vital signs checkings, admissions and doctor's rounds), not fair to my patients (whom I cannot care for because I was too busy doing her dressing). The CI said, yeah , it's not easy because she's our regular patient and she wants things to be neat and perfect, not 5 swabs and done. She wants all the dead skin, slough and oozing all clean off. The CI also said that she tried telling Datin that can't make the assigned nurse to do her dressing all the time, but she just wouldn't listen. She told me to see whether I can talk to her or not. I could try, but it won't be easy, because she's feeling sad over her condition, I don't mind teaching the maid how to do the dressing because she had wanted to go home. Unless she wants a private nurse to care for her.
But not all were bad. I met a really nice Muslim lady who looks Indian, maybe she's a mix? Very pretty lady she was. She and her sister gave me encouragement when they saw my sad face, after I helped the patient herself to the bed and put on her cryo-cuffs. She gave me some encouraging words. "Whenever you're feeling down, nurse, think of the Mother of Nursing, Florence Nightingale." Who doesn't know the story of Florence Nightingale? She's a true angel from heaven, tending to injured soldiers in war zones, where everything was chaotic and all sorts of bloody injuries can be seen. The lady also told me a little about herself, how she had wanted to be a nurse when she's a child, getting herself involved with the Red Cross, St John's, and volunteering in charity jobs. When she grew up, somehow she fallen in love with her clerk job. Nevertheless, she confessed to me that when she came to the hospital for her check up and saw how the nurses work, she said it's like angels coming down to Earth to care for those in need. Thank you for those lovely words, madam.
If only the whole world is nice, we wouldn't have to go for each other's throats. :(