As human beings, we often like to hear that everything is fine. Who relish in bad things? Given the choice, all of us want to be healthy and still kicking in our old age. With the current condition and modern lifestyle, unlikely, because everyone wants things to be fast, fast, fast. Instantly right at your fingertips, but with our current ongoing pandemic and people out of jobs, everyone is doing what they can to survive.
When MCO started, doctors wanted us to do temperature and BP checking (I'll come to that later) for all their patients, which I get really tired of. It's not that I hate the job, I hated the patient's reactions that follows. The same goes for the temperature checking, a normal person's temperature ranges from 36 degree Celcius to 37.3 degree Celcius. 37.4 is border line, 37.5 means low grade fever. 37 degree Celcius, this is the typical reaction I get from (some) patients:
"37?! Can you please re-check? I was scanned downstairs and I'm 35.9 / 36....etc etc. 37 is much too high!"
"Ew! I hate 37, can you make sure my temperature is 36.7? It's a much nicer number."
"Oh my God, nurse. My temperature is 37! I'm having a fever. Can you please send me down to the ER?"
If you think this is bad, let me tell you the ridiculous comments we get. Originally, we used the ear probe version, the type that you usually see in paediatricians. For a while it was okay, then the whole mayhem started:
"Oh my God, do you know unhygienic your ear probes thermometer are???"
I never understood the mentality. Are we that untrustworthy? No matter how busy we were, I made sure to grab alcohol wipes to wipe the probe, not to mention using a new ear probe cover sleeve after each patient...because, you know, hygiene purpose. It's common sense. It has gotten so bad to the point where patients went as far as to stand with us at our counter just to see what we were doing. Fed up, I went straight to my manager and explained the situation. Few days later, we got this.
Source: https://www.amazon.in/Infrared-Forehead-Thermometer-Temperature-White/dp/B01CICL5BK
Problems solved right?
"I heard this one is not accurate. Don't you all have the ear probe version?"
"Please don't point it at my head. I heard the laser burns off your brain cells." (Sounds like a joke right? It's real, this came out of my patient's mouth, literally)
"How come downstairs scanned me 34/ 22/ 30 etc but here it is 36, is your equipment faulty?"
Do I need to go through this all over again? In the end, people finally accepted the Infrared thermometer. That's how humans are. We complain, we grumble, but in the end, life has to go on. Then onto the BP checking. Where to even begin? I know the new norm is wear masks, social distance, hand washing, rinse and repeat. I don't recall bringing your own sphygmomanometer (BP machine) as part of the new norm. Last time, we used to have an older model machine, but recently we got a newer model. You know, going to a hospital is stressful. No matter how much you try to stay calm, people are often scared, anxious, sad...It's okay, it's normal. Some people's vitals tends to go all over the place, mine included. Mine is usually on the low or borderline side, coming to a hospital my BP tends to skyrocket (Not that high, but not my usual reading). Some people just have high blood pressure, but you're under treatment. Okay, don't worry, I'll just update the assistant to let the doctor know. Nobody wants to be sick, same goes for me. I recently got diagnosed with a left knee injury, which I was shocked. The doctors advised me to exercise, lose weight and take care of my diet, which I did, and sure I'm not as chubby as before, and I'm not model thin, but at least I felt healthier. What ticks me off was patients insisting that our machine is faulty, that our readings are wrong.
"I checked my blood pressure at home. It's always normal (ranging from 120 to 140). How come when I come here my blood pressure is always high? Nothing is wrong with me!" (with slight variance, but it always ends with nothing is wrong with me)
If you have high blood pressure, it's alright. We are just going to give the blood pressure reading to the doctor so that they know what treatment and meds to give. If you can't be honest, then what is the point? I always, always stress that you don't have to be scared with the doctors. Just be honest, I never understood why (some) patients tend to spin their stories. What do you gain out of it? The more you're not honest with us, the more difficult it'll be for us. If you are honest with your history, doctors will be able to give you the appropriate treatment much faster. Sorry, I'm running off topic here. Anyway, I have gotten patients who are being difficult. During MCO, I would always encounter at least a few patients who after getting their blood pressure reading, will push their machine at me and demand me to use it, or they will give me a nasty look and use their machine, telling me that my machine is faulty / spoiled. Most recently, I encountered few patients who... I wouldn't exactly say threw a fit, but they made things difficult.
A middle aged lady approached me at 8.30 in the morning asking me (in a very stand-offish tone) on who is going to check her blood pressure. I answered her nicely. She repeated the question again in the same tone and I raised my voice slightly (I think she didn't hear me the first time) and repeated, "Me."
Lady: Oh, you're checking my blood pressure? I thought the doctor does it.
Me: Ma'am, ever since the MCO started, our doctor told us to take every patient's blood pressure before entering the clinic.
Lady: Why haven't you call me yet? I'm supposed to see the doctor.
Me: Ma'am, the clinic hasn't started yet. The assistant will give us the stickers and then we'll call you. Don't worry.
Lady: Oh, I also brought my own machine. Can I give it to you later to make a comparison between yours and mine?
Me: (Why would she ask that?) I don't think there's an issue.
So when her sticker finally came, I was attending another patient's dressing so my colleague took over. I didn't know what happened, but apparently her blood pressure was high. Okay, then my colleague took her machine and compared the reading. It's still high, with only a slight difference. So my colleague was telling her nicely that her blood pressure is high. All of a sudden I head her shrieking, "Of course it's high! I'm anxious!" Wait, I don't get it...I saw my colleague trying to explain to her nicely but I kept hearing, "No! You are going to re-check till my blood pressure is normal! I'm anxious!" At that time I really needed to use the machine so I went in to quickly take it from my friend and they were still going at it. Finally, she left but I saw that she looks furious. i don't really know what happened to her after that because my colleague refused to talk about it, but there were no other hiccups.
Then there's a person with title (Dato/ Datin/ Tan Sri etc etc) who insisted on getting checked first. I didn't want to piss him off, so I checked his BP. It's high. He wasn't happy (naturally) and asked me to re-check. After two times with my own machine, he brought his own machine, asking me to check it. I did twice. Same, also high, with only one or two digits difference. Not happy, he kept asking me to check back. I had to put my foot down, saying in polite tones, "Look, even if I checked ten times, it'll still be the same because there's not much difference. I can only advise you to rest for fifteen minutes, try to relax, and we'll check back. Please excuse me, I have many patients to attend to..."
I'm going to put this out here. Not all equipment/ machines are the same. There will always be a slight difference. I once had my height checked at this place. Second time I went to another place and I got a few centimetres difference. Third time I went I somehow shrunk??? You can't expect equipment/ machines to be the same. I noticed patients also love to use the excuse, "I checked at home and my blood pressure is always normal. Nothing is wrong with me." I'll say it again, at home, you are relaxed, stress free, it's your comfort zone. Coming to the hospital, you feel anxious, depressed, worried, angry. You walk from one place to another, maybe the phlebotomist took your blood wrongly, maybe your blood results came back bad... You come for a consultation but at the same time, you are visiting a sick relative...Another thing I want to point out is I noticed non-professionals (aka Laymen) tend to sometime put the cuff wrongly. I know this because my family did it (the few times I caught them), and while training, I had no idea that something as simple as wrapping a BP cuff around your arm has a certain technique for it, with the proper indicator and everything. Of course you can just wrap the cuff around your arm and still get a reading, but sometimes it might not be accurate. These are the factors that cause your blood pressure to fluctuate, so please stop with the "Nothing is wrong with me!" One thing I learnt when you come to a hospital, you come for a reason, whether it is for a normal wellness check up or a consultation, you come for a reason. No one goes to a hospital to get pricked, jabbed, get your history spilled to the doctor(s) or nurse(s) (A stranger to you at this point) for the fun of it.
Here's a little something I wrote for a competition regarding my thoughts ( in 50 words) about the Corona which didn't make it:
Stop being over paranoid, it won't do you good
Hoarders, be considerate, stop panic buying
Utilize whatever you have, and I do mean whatever
To eat or not to eat? That's the question
Unless it's a matter of urgency, stay at home!
Pray that we will get through this pandemic
