Disrespect

3rd October (Monday) - Not a very good start to a new month. Patients and doctors (not all of them) alike are shouting at us from all sides. I got the worst of it cause I'm the most junior and most soft one.These few days I've been pretty much going, "Why me?????" Not that it matters, since there is no such thing as innocent proven guilty anymore. It all started from one of his difficult patient. A lady who is in her fifties, she had a total knee replacement done. It has been more than a month and she still can't walk, only ambulate in a wheelchair. I tried giving her the benefit of doubt from her first day doing dressing under me. And let me tell you this, she always complains that she's in pain, cannot move. And her daughter who always accompanies her, she really takes the cake. She really has that arrogant look in her face, Every time she comes, she expects us to run after her like a queen. She couldn't even be bothered to push her mother in the wheelchair. When her mother complaints of pain and couldn't move, I had to single-handedly carry her over to the bed, and it's no easy feat because the patient wouldn't help herself. And the daughter...stood at the side, playing with her phone while looking at me with that look. "My God, you're not strong. Can you even manage to carry my mother?" Well, most of my patients has families who willingly helped us, spouses, children, siblings, girl or boyfriends, caregivers... They all helped us as we support one side and they the other. It really ticks me off when she says that. And she always complains about everything. Seriously, she will be hovering by your side, going, "Why is the incision not straight? What an awful cut." (You think I'm the one who did the surgery? Ask the doctor please.)"You didn't clean properly. There's still a lot of black stuff all over it." (Those are all old blood clots and scabs. If I keep forcing it out, your mom will start bleeding again.) "Physiotherapy? The doctor never say anything about physio." The last statement really make my blood tick. I've assisted orthopaedics surgeon for a long time, and I know that after any surgery, there will always be a post-op physio, especially for those involving your limbs. Spine? Yes, there's also physio for spine strengthening along with corset or bracing, depending how severe the case is. And you can imagine, it has been more than a month and the lady still cannot walk. No surprise there. I had seen many elderly, some as old as seventy whom undergone total knee/hip/ spine surgery, and they can walk, some with ambulatory aid, some without. Cause they all went for regular physio as per the doctor orders. My own aunt who is sixty plus underwent total knee replacement twice, and she can walk without crutches after two weeks. Even though the wound is long dry, the daughter kept demanding me to cover the wound. She claimed that it is to protect the wound from infection, and then she nagged me, "Don't you know anything? Leaving the wound open is bad, cover it up." Okay, you win. I'm really tired of you shooting all of my help down. She'll be back around this month and I pray hard that she doesn't come to the treatment room. We might go nuts just from her alone.
And it was one of those days where we are super busy. With just the two of us, and two doctors who needed the treatment room the most, my friend and I took one each. She will handle Doctor B while I handle Doctor A. Between us two, we managed to run our patients smoothly. While I was waiting for my doctor to come to review his patients, Doctor B came up to me at the counter and he wasn't happy.

Doctor : Where are my patients?
Me : Room 2 with my friend.
Doctor : Who is in Room 1?
Me : Doctor A's patient.
Doctor : I want the first room.
Me : Doctor, I'm sorry but I can't give you the first room, cause Doctor A is using it.
Doctor : Oh, I get it. You respect him, but you don't respect me. I followed the queue, so why did you bypass my patients?
Me : My friend is handling your patients.
Doctor : I don't care. Give me the first room.
Me : I'm sorry.
Doctor : *Gave me a dirty look and walked back into his room*

My friend came out after our cashier told us the story. She sighed and told me same thing happened to her, except the doctor demanded why they trained me like that. And my friend defended me, saying that I was only following the procedure. And we were kind to give him the second room, all just for him. The first room I'm using, I'm sharing it with seven doctors. If I had complied to his request, I will get seven doctors jumping at my throat. So yeah. Ever since then, he had always taken his anger out on me.
Recently on Friday, his girl caused me to land in hot waters. The doctor came out and asked me why I didn't call his patient. My friend and I can only stare blankly at him, because his girl never gave us any sticker, so how would we know who to call? So she hurriedly gave me the first sticker, an eighty-something old lady. Scanning my patients, I only saw one lady that fits the age description, When I called her name, the doctor glared at me and shouted, "WRONG PATIENT!" What the- I doubled check with the patient, and she said yes, that's her name, Yes, her IC was right, but the doctor was fuming. Turns out his girl gave me the wrong sticker, and when I tried to explain my mistake, he brushed me off with a glare and said, "I don't want to hear your excuses." Then his girl finally gave the second sticker, the right one, but the damage was done.
Then she did it again. Second patient is an another eighty-something lady, she said it outloud, to me and my friend, that the lady is to apply a Plaster of Paris (POP). I had my doubts, because I saw the lady had a lumbar corset, and her doctor is an orthopaedic, not a spine surgeon, so I double-checked with the doctor.He pretty much blasted me at that point. "Who asked you to call my patient into the treatment room? I say bring that lady to DR SO-AND-SO. My God, don't you understand ENGLISH?!"
My friend had saw what happened at the point and, with a fierce look in her eye, she went to him and said in a firm voice. "Don't shout at my friend. The reason why she did so many mistakes was your girl gave her the wrong stickers TWICE." He didn't once said sorry, but just ignored her. Just my luck.
The drama's not over with that. The next day around 9 in the morning, a mother with her two-year-old child came up to me at the counter and demanded, "Who's your manager? I wish to speak to her immediately."Since it was a Saturday, our manager is not around, but there's only the executive-on-call. I explained to her, but she was shaking her head and said, "No, I want the manager. Get me your manager now." Again, I explained to her one more time, that there's only the executive-on-call, and the cashier backed me up. Then she let out her anger on me. She came as early as eight-something to register as the second patient for our spine surgeon, who she knows takes forever to see a patient, so she came to register early for her two-year-old boy, who she suspect of scoliosis. She had waited for her turn to come, but she saw three patients had went in. So she went to ask the inside girl, who said that her son's folder is not here, so she have to wait. And she claimed she had called early whether she needs to make an appointment, and the girl said that there's no need, that it's based on a first come first serve basis. Bzzt. Wrong answer. I can only winced as the girl did a mistake which I can't help her with. My friend, who was coming back from the washroom, saw the whole thing happening from the corner that she went and ran for the customer service for their help. So the lady took out her anger on the customer service, and they quickly sent her to Doctor So-and-So for the consultation. Sigh, why me? WHY ME?????