Up, Down and Bang

30th August (Saturday) - One more day to National Day and now I come in early on Saturdays so that I'll be able to go back early. For starters, I'm back at the usual ward and guess who's calling super early in the morning? You guessed it, the same old lady and her companion. Ahhhh. Dear God, please let the lady get well soon so that she can be independent and spare us all. God, now she has a maid to care for her, unfortunately, her maid doesn't have a single clue on how to take care of her and she kept demanding me to teach her maid. Truly, I sincerely wanted to help, unfortunately, it was a bad timing since I have to handle the other bed lady. She's able to do things on her own, the only downside she's slow, so I usually have to stay near her in case she falls and she keeps saying that she wants to change room and since now the maid has come in, she's furious because the maid caused her whole commode chair to get wet. I told her gently that every room only has one bathroom and for patients in double bedded or four bedded, they have to share with their roomies. The lady just shake her head and literally beg me to change her to another room, and I told her that I'm very sorry, there are no double bedded rooms at the moment and I do not have the authority to change her room if there is one available. Only the Sister and the prof has the authority to do so. After giving her her shower and just as I was about to make her milk, I got called to go to another ward due to shortage of staff.
Sigh, so after apologizing to the lady and telling her that I am unable to attend to her, i handed over to one of the senior staff and run up to help out. Up there is even more panicky and everyone is rushing around and my poor friend have to take care of the whole ward due to all the staff being super busy with their own tasks, assignments, medicines, doctor rounds, sending patients to the OT and reports. Apparently, they didn't have much staff til nearly everyone had to double shift. Since being in this ward threw me entirely, I have to rush to get the patients' diagnosis just to get an idea and then run attending the patients.
Since there was a senior staff on duty, she took me to observe her dressings. PICC and a scalp dressing. The scalp dressing is the one that kind of cause me to go, !!!!! Cause it's on a boy. Yes, a little boy who ended up having a scalp injury and underwent a skin graft to fix back his scalp. The nurse told me that if I have been here on the first day, it would've been much worse. Now that's left is a clean and dry wound with some granulating parts so it isn't too bad. I really hope if i ever encounter cases like this, I'll be strong.

FOC

29th August (Friday) - It's Friday already? Holy, this means I've been working for nearly a month. Wow, this also means my mo-neh should be coming in very soon, hopefully on the 31st. According to everyone, it usually comes out on the end of every month for not confirmed staff.
Today, I came early as always. Today I'm posting at the FOC. Free of Charge. No, I'm joking. The acronyms stands for Front Admission Counter. Basically, I'm supposed to just sit there, tag with one of the staff and observe what they do. I'll admit, I'm only good with admission, discharge and appointment. But if you're asking about registration, sorry, I'm the wrong person to ask. I'm useless at registering patients, but when it comes to answering the patients' questions regarding about wards and operations, I'm your girl. Most of the patients do ask questions about the ward settings, visiting hours and operation times and fasting. Good thing I was there. The front office counter staff are Layman so they can't give full details of the ward.
There's really not much to talk about to be really honest. Besides admission, payment is also done at there. Patients give their charge forms, or wait for their folders to be processed and then pay with either cash, credit card or insurance claim. Simple right?
I went to settle my APC and guess what. I gotten the wrong example and foolishly followed the whole postal order and burned twenty bucks.Darn it. Long story short, I have to rely on a friend to help me buy. I hope she gets it on time because Tuesday is the deadline.
I'm heading to the wards tomorrow and darn it, the Sister jokingly assigned me to that old lady again. Nooooooooo.

Insanity and Comedy

28th August (Thursday) - You're probably wondering why is there insanity involve in this post... Well, if you keep  reading on you'll find out. Today, I was given the assignment of going to the pharmacy. So I waited and waited and waited for someone to come. The lights are all on, but there's nobody in sight. Finally, I saw a clerk went in so I told her that I'm posting to the pharmacy and she just went, "You shouldn't have come early, girl. The supervisor usually comes in late."I told her it was okay and I'll just wait inside. Then when the clerk was tidying up her folders, she saw the date and went, "Oh no. The supervisor's not coming, girl. Because today is her annual leave." Oh man, is there even such a thing possible? I suggest alternates to her : I'll follow the other staff on their topping up medications rounds, I'll help prepare their medications, can't I follow the big boss instead? She shook her head at each suggestions and said only the supervisor's allowed to teach. The others aren't allowed. So I'm not allowed to come to the pharmacy. I went to find the sister in charge of my roster and after helping out in the usual ward which I'm familiar with when there was a phone call from the downstairs Sister who asked me to come and post to her ward. Seeing as how I don't have any other choice, I went down, just in time to help them for a shower. One of the nurse wished me luck and I asked her why, and she merely replied, you will find out.
So I went into the room and found this old lady sitting on a chair. My first thought is, Oh, an old lady, maybe she really does need help. Big mistake. She, I'm sorry to say, is uncooperative and acts like a total helpless person. When I tried standing her up, she moaned and said she was in pain. The attendant who was with me told me she had been living there for a month, and she never helps herself. I then asked her how does she usually bathe and she said that she can do it herself but refuses to do so. Then the lady moaned that she was in pain and the attendant told her firmly to help herself and then she made a big noise about us being selfish and refusing to help her, and the attendant shouted back at her which seems to add fuel to the fire. Then she actually did stood up and managed to walk with the walking frame.What the- Something about the way she talks makes me think back about yesterday about an incident where the CI mentioned to me that there was an incident where a patient said the nurses treated her horribly to her son, whom in turn, complained to the professor, and whom in turn screamed at all the nurses til the Sister and the CI have to lower their heads and humbly apologize. Oh dear. I have to force myself to swallow all of my annoyance and keep a cool head as she kept moaning that she's in pain and that she's a helpless old lady who needs someone to carry her. The attendant was losing her cool and I kept distracting the lady by keeping her occupied with the shower. Since I'm just a new staff, whom am I to take sides on? They probably knew the old lady better than me so I wisely kept my lips shut. And she doesn't let me go. I spent my whole morning all locked up in her room busy attending her. No matter I put all of her possession close to her, she just won't reach out for them. She just kept asking me to take for her, saying that she's in pain. When I finally got out, all the senior staff were laughing and said, "How did it feel?" and I merely gave a sigh of exhaustion and said, "I get it. I get it." But they did congratulated me for being super patient with her and I merely shrugged. 3 years of handling super fussy patients at my previous training taught me to swallow all of my anger and just put up a blank expression. After that, I have to send a patient to billing and handle a shaving for a patient who is going for angiogram. When they asked whether I could handle shaving alone, I merely said, "I'm out of practice but I'll do it." So I spend a while shaving while chatting to the patient, whom I gotten to know well that she trusts me even though we only met for a moment. Then when I finished shaving, I got one of the senior staff to inspect my shaving, she took a long glance, then gave me a thumbs up. "Good job. It's your first shaving right?" Whew, lucky me. I will admit, I never had experience with shaving before. I only made sure there were no hair sticking out and that the area is clean. Before I left, I also advised the patient to wash with clear water to clear any bits of hair that maybe sticking on her skin.
Then, the worst part came. Remember the old lady? Everyone warned me she's an attention-seeker and she will keep pressing the bell every 5 minutes. The lady beside her never presses the bell, but she will call for attention as well, just not as bad as the other lady. Hoo-boy, see what I mean. The moment I get called by that room, I'll be doing a disappearing act for hours. The saddest thing was, she doesn't help herself and she's uncooperative. She can turn, she can use her hands, even though she had slight pain on her leg, she can move with the help of a walking frame... It's just sad. Sigh. No wonder why all the senior staff told me to just sit in that room. Once you start attending to her, she'll never leave you alone. Sigh... The nurses told me I can just make a drama in that very room itself and I told them to get the camera ready. I went in to make sure the old lady eat and she kept shouting that she refuses to eat and that no one can feed her. Recalling a lesson that I learnt back from my time as a student nurse, I told her firmly, "Madam, you can use your hands to feed yourself. And you should feed yourself, because then your muscles won't be so stiff and you can go out of the hospital. Don't worry, I will help you chop your fish and mix your rice together but you must try feed yourself." The patient, after hearing my words, nodded and waited patiently as I chop the fish into bits and mash it with the rice and vegie and curry. And miracles of miracles, she actually managed to eat the fish finish, with half a portion of rice and some vegies. Yes! The nurses saw the result and were like, "Whoa. You managed to get her to eat." and I just said all I have to do is keep saying the word try and she'll do it.
Then noon came. Darn, I couldn't get the report on time thanks to being occupied, nevertheless, I rushed just in time to see a PEG feeding. Wow, it sure brings back memory when I used to do PEG feeding for a regular patient. You commonly see NG tube feeding but PEG, super rare.
As I got out of the room, I happened to pass by my friend who is struggling to measure the height of a tall patient who just came in. She barely reached over his chest and I just said to her that I'll help her. Then the patient looked at me uncertainly and I asked him to bend a little and managed to put the plastic plate on top of his head and pushed it slightly up as he straightened. And we managed to get his height. And he was like, "What??? I'm that short?" And I went, "No, sir. You're actually considered quite tall." Considering I have many guy friends who are taller than him, um, yeah, he's quite tall.
Going to the Front Office Counter tomorrow. I hope there'll be no more dramas going on.  

Orientation Near-End

27th August (Wednesday) - The day started off with bed-making and sponging as usual. As a bonus, we are given our new uniform and we get to wear it. Oh yes, those who had seen us walking around in the previously worn blue shirts were like, "Wow, you all look smart..." "You all look so different..." "Now you all look like real staff nurses..." My father jokingly said to me when I came down to eat breakfast, "What? Are you taking up waitressing? Cause you look like one." Ha-di-ha.
With the usual morning routine done, then comes the next wave of routine. Doctor Rounds, or to be more precise, Professor Rounds.Since all wards are short-staffed due to unfortunate circumstances, everywhere is a mad rush. Even though I'm still a newbie, the senior girls were like, "Here come Prof So-and-So, new girl. Gogogo!" I'm not complaining but... The prof(s) handwriting looks like worms, squiggles or chicken tracks. You can spend hours turning the whole paper 360 degrees and it still wouldn't make any sense. The first time I was rather blur and just let a prof ran off without confirming his orders. Arghhh, I'm so pathetic! Then some nurses told me to never let a prof run off without confirming his orders. They told me, "If you can't get the prof's orders, tackle him til you get it." Well, okay. So for the next two, one I managed to read his handwriting which isn't so bad, the other one I asked him since he looks like a nice guy and he just said to me, "Yep, planning for discharge and follow up in 2 weeks. You got that?" Lucky me.
Then after all the prof rounds, I was asked to assist a dressing. So I asked why and the senior nurse told me to help because the dressing is heavy. So I went in and...what a shock. The wound is huge, I mean, really huge and bloody, like a huge hunk of meat with visible muscles mass and bones, with external steel reduction
and large pins and bars. And the patient is in constant pain. I asked the staff nurse whether they gave him any pain killers and she said the med nurse already gave him a shot of sub cut morphine.Even so, when I asked him whether he felt any pain, he nodded in reply. The staff nurse brought very little cotton balls, so I asked her whether she wants me to get some more and she said to go right ahead. So I opened tons of cotton balls (6 packs at my last count) and I poured nearly all of the 500ml of Saline solution just for cleaning itself. If you think that's bad, wait til you hear about the part why I'm there to assist. I have to lift the patient's leg up. Easy task? Not! Even though the patient has received his morphine, he moans in pain. And you can't lift his leg by ordinary method, his younger sister, who is an Orthopaedic doctor herself, told me to lift him by the reduction. I counted mentally to myself and ups-a-daisy. Ohhhh, my shoulder is screaming in pain and I have to hold his leg for about 5 minutes or more. I have to use the foot of the bed as a support and tip toe a little so that I can hold his leg up higher so that the nurse can clean efficiently and wrap his bandage around. I should've eaten some more to boost my stamina. I even strained my eyes and could feel beads of sweat on my forehead. But at the end result, I'm really happy for the patient cause his wound is all cleaned nicely and everyone's happy.
Then I have to rush for my late lunch but who cares? If we don't eat, we'll end up fainting. And this is something that I'm familiar with during my time as a student nurse. If you don't eat enough, you'll end up fainting form hunger or become tired til you don't even have the strength to help your patients. See, break is important. Don't always say, "I have to help the others so I can't eat." That's bull.
The rest of the day pass as a blur, but the CI said since a month has passed, we're no longer under orientation, and starting from next week, we'll be entering the wards. Hoo-boy. Here we go into a whirlwind of being a real staff.

Run, Runner, Run XD

26th August (Tuesday) - Today was supposed to be the day of following the CI, but due to sudden unforeseen circumstances, I ended up becoming a runner whereas my other two friends become runners in the other ward. So, the day started off with sponging and doing bed-making. After that, because we were short on attendants, I have to transfer the patients back and forth (usually with a senior staff, and also as a chance to get to know the place well). Since I'm a runner, I also need to do admissions and observations. Today originally we have very little patients at first, but then admissions keep coming in. Some for op, some for medicines. So I was running one admission after another after I complete each one. I'm also expected to write reports. Because the senior staffs are all busy, I have no choice but to rely on my wits and apply what I had learnt.  I guessed my report must be good enough since none of the senior staff said anything.
I was also given the chance to follow a professor on his rounds. He looks really worn out, all sweaty as though he had been running a marathon. Bless him, apparently he literally ran from the other side of the building to the wards. Well... That explains it.
After each admissions are done, during noon time, I alternate between answering the phone calls and answering the call bells. Usually to assist patients in something or picking up phone calls and answering the request or taking a message.
During my lunch time, which I'm horribly late due to last minute admissions before lunch time, I talked to one of the senior staffs who was drinking lemon water. She said she often squeezes keeps slices of lemon to make lemon water to help in her digestion of oil and protein. If you had often been to Chinese restaurants, you'll notice that after oily food like fried pork, the staff will serve you tiny glass of lemon juice to help in digestion of the oily protein. I replied that it's a really nice idea, except lemons are really expensive.She then told me instead of throwing your lemon slices after one round, you should always keep re-using them til the slices are all spoiled. What a great idea. I'm going to keep all my lemon slices from now on. Then somehow we got to the topic of going outdoors, and I told her that when I was a student, I was often frightened of going out because my college was in a sort of end area surrounded by really bad... according to the staff nurse's words, sickos. She said she had been there before, and she said she felt sorry for us. And especially in the Shah Alam area where there are really horrible people that targets young girls and drag them into their car. They don't care if you are plain or pretty, rich or poor, just as long as you are female. The worst part of all is they do not want your money. Oh no. They only want to...to put it in a word, spoil you. Or defile. The nurse shake her head sadly and said that's the problem with society these days. And because these people were high on drugs, their sexual needs become high. How horrible. I guess that's why my parents never let me go out alone, even if it's for going out to a nearby shopping complex to buy books.

A Fun Monday

25th August (Monday) - Mondays are never really fun, according to most people. Sure, I'm half asleep in the mornings, even if I sleep at 10 sharp, I'll always end up half asleep. God knows maybe I'll have to sleep at 9, like how I used to prepare myself for my government exams. Hm. 25th is the day where the government servants get their payday. I have't get mine yet, sadly. I really want mo-neh (money) to come into my account so that I can use it to buy my beloved books. So many books I really want: Kalona's Fall, House of Night final book: Redeemed, Shopaholic to the Stars, and coming in 2015, The Mediator Book #7 : Remembrance, Princess Diaries #11 : Royal Wedding... Oh, I really want them so bad. Not to mention Final Fantasy Artbooks from Kinokuniya. Ahhhh.
Ahem, where was I before getting sidetracked? Oh yes, Monday. Well, today was a little short-staffed, so we were sent to  help out in sponging and shower. Can you believe we only done two patients and it took two hours? How I sometime love Mondays til Wednesdays because time flies super fast so that you don't have to keep looking at your watch. Today is also rather funny because many patients gave us tons of tidbits: Cupcakes and fruits. Stuff like that.
We were suppose to do discussions today, but because of short-staffed, we ended up being runners. In between, when we have time, we discuss about the hospital SOP (Standards of Practice). Every hospital has a SOP to ensure the standards of their organization are met. Same goes for major companies. Last week I had a chance to send a patient to the DSU on the opposite building via van, so my friend gets the chance to send a patient via ambulance. Nice right? The funny thing was we actually past these group of paramedics who went by us with a stretcher. The ambulance with its red and blue lights flashing outside. So I went to the ambulance to try get the driver's attention. The driver is already at the lobby and he looked stunned to see us. Then he said that the paramedics had already went up. Oh my goodness, we ran all the way down while they went all the way up. There was nothing for us to do except to wait for them to come back down. When they got back down, they transferred the patient over to their stretcher and then she followed her, leaving me and the other girl to become runners in the ward.
Then we moved went back to our discussions of SOP and posting schedules. I hope I'll get to go to other departments soon.

Worst Day Ever

23rd August (Saturday) - Is there ever a worst day in my working life? Of course there is, but it's not regarding about my work.It's about getting my academic transcripts. I got my CPR license safe and sound, but transcript, nope. First of all, I came as early as 7.30 am and the academic office weren't open yet. So I waited alone on the corridor and the lady finally came, but she refuse to serve me until 8 o' clock comes. So I waited silently while trying hard not to look at my watch. I was feeling excited that soon, I'll be able to get my transcripts and on Monday I can pass it to the Sister and finally get my APC, and so that I can increase my salary to a decent value. Seems easy, right? Hell, no. This is my life we are talking about, if things are too east, then something is fishy.
I went in, she asked me about an Exit Form, since I don't have one, she gave me one to fill in. Coming across several boxes with the various head of each departments beside each blank box, I asked the lady what are the boxes for, and she replied it's for the various head of departments to sign. There are five boxes but only four have to be signed, since the fifth one is only for dismissed or deferred students, I don't need to worry about that one. but hostel? That's insane. I asked her why do I need the Head of Hostel's signature when I don't stay in the hostel, and she merely replied, "We had incidents where the students lied and said that they don't stay in hostels, yet when we use the system, we found out they used to stay in hostels for a semester, or they they don't stay in the hostel at all when they did." That is total bull, pardon my French. What a waste of my time. Sorry to say, since I only got pardoned for an hour, I rushed back to work, 5 minutes before the clock struck 9. Yes, my new workplace actually practice a Give & Take policy. If you come in an hour late, you have to go back an hour late; and vice versa. Well, that's nice, but don't do it too often. You have to play fair with your other colleagues.
Because my mood was disrupted by the fiasco, I ended up working with a tense heart. With many discharges coming on, I ended up slamming the appointment cards on the desk, tugging hard at each file binders as I filed and dropping many things (Not important stuff, just papers.) Because my concentration was also disrupted thanks to the usual yelling from my parents after things go wrong, I ended up keying the pending discharge wrongly, fortunately, I was able to reverse it back since I haven't hit the DISCHARGE button yet. Thank the Lord for that, otherwise I'll end up getting another bullocking for the mistake. I get it why people say you always have to sort yourself out before work, with your concentration and emotion disturbed, you'll end up doing mistakes. I just wish my family could be more understanding. No wonder why I always end up running to my friends or the Befrienders when I'm down. What a crisis.