a new end
Started my first rotation yesterday as a clerk. Malas ko, i got stuck with 2-week duty outside of my home hospital -- at mental hospital pa, sa mandaluyong.
Before i got there, there was orientation at my home hospital. Home, shit home. FEU hospital. I met my groupmates -- 2 girls i don't know and one funny guy, buti nalang. We headed towards the loony bin and there was another orientation (we missed the official one), and there i received more bad news. I would be the first one stuck with 36-hour duty. From when i first arrived, thru the night and on til the next regular day.
It was a blast, surprisingly. We just had to do histories, physical exams and mental status exams, all of which i had already forgotten (thanks to the month-long vacation), or never learnt. The upper batch FEU clerks and other interns quickly got ahold of me and took care of me through out. Little did they know what they were getting themselves into. I had a thousand questions throughout the 36-hours. All questions either got answered well or quite properly left me hanging to figure it out on my own.
The patients at the mental hospital scared me pucha. They were either catatonic or sane or smiling very weirdly - at me, at everyone else, at their surroundings. It was picturesque, just what TV taught me mental hospitals would be.
I took to quite a few patients, not immediately of course. But after the initial (and lasting hehe) scaredy cat-ness. I got to know the quirks of a few patients.
One patient was shuffling his hands and feet all night long, smiling his bungal smile. I think he was smiling at me. I was so scared at first, imagining what he had planned when he got his hands on me. Later, I saw the nice-ness behind his innocent actions. He was trapped yata in his own body. A lot of the patients I think were. I would ask them a question for history-taking, and I think they wanted to answer me, they were just trapped in their own heads.
Trapped is the right word. The mental hospital is a prison, man. Most of the patients didn't want to be there. They were worried for being in (again), worried what would happen while they were there, worried how to get out.... Some of them, I saw, really should be in a mental hospital. But that doesn't make it any less sad.
Another patient was singing all night long! It was really entertaining. He was smiling all the time. Imagine: two missing front teeth, and his eyes are locked on yours mejo sinisterly while you're talking/not doing anything. You get used to it, and *then* he becomes the life of the mental hospital night-duty party. Hahaha. While he wasn't singing, he was shouting out math questions (64 times 64!), and then answering them himself (64,000!)
---
I'm now in bed. I got home a couple hours ago. Imagine it, really. I left home at 6:45 am on tuesday morning, and stayed on duty until 5pm wednesday evening. In between, slept a couple hours, didn't poop or take a bath (hello, public hospital kaya yun). I was able to moisturize naman. And make friends with the doctors there. Hehe.
I'm looking forward to what tom brings. It's regular duty tom. Just 8am to 5pm.
--
The horror stories, i'll save them for another time. Electroconvulsive therapy on mental patients in a public hospital. It's one of the most inhumane things.
Before i got there, there was orientation at my home hospital. Home, shit home. FEU hospital. I met my groupmates -- 2 girls i don't know and one funny guy, buti nalang. We headed towards the loony bin and there was another orientation (we missed the official one), and there i received more bad news. I would be the first one stuck with 36-hour duty. From when i first arrived, thru the night and on til the next regular day.
It was a blast, surprisingly. We just had to do histories, physical exams and mental status exams, all of which i had already forgotten (thanks to the month-long vacation), or never learnt. The upper batch FEU clerks and other interns quickly got ahold of me and took care of me through out. Little did they know what they were getting themselves into. I had a thousand questions throughout the 36-hours. All questions either got answered well or quite properly left me hanging to figure it out on my own.
The patients at the mental hospital scared me pucha. They were either catatonic or sane or smiling very weirdly - at me, at everyone else, at their surroundings. It was picturesque, just what TV taught me mental hospitals would be.
I took to quite a few patients, not immediately of course. But after the initial (and lasting hehe) scaredy cat-ness. I got to know the quirks of a few patients.
One patient was shuffling his hands and feet all night long, smiling his bungal smile. I think he was smiling at me. I was so scared at first, imagining what he had planned when he got his hands on me. Later, I saw the nice-ness behind his innocent actions. He was trapped yata in his own body. A lot of the patients I think were. I would ask them a question for history-taking, and I think they wanted to answer me, they were just trapped in their own heads.
Trapped is the right word. The mental hospital is a prison, man. Most of the patients didn't want to be there. They were worried for being in (again), worried what would happen while they were there, worried how to get out.... Some of them, I saw, really should be in a mental hospital. But that doesn't make it any less sad.
Another patient was singing all night long! It was really entertaining. He was smiling all the time. Imagine: two missing front teeth, and his eyes are locked on yours mejo sinisterly while you're talking/not doing anything. You get used to it, and *then* he becomes the life of the mental hospital night-duty party. Hahaha. While he wasn't singing, he was shouting out math questions (64 times 64!), and then answering them himself (64,000!)
---
I'm now in bed. I got home a couple hours ago. Imagine it, really. I left home at 6:45 am on tuesday morning, and stayed on duty until 5pm wednesday evening. In between, slept a couple hours, didn't poop or take a bath (hello, public hospital kaya yun). I was able to moisturize naman. And make friends with the doctors there. Hehe.
I'm looking forward to what tom brings. It's regular duty tom. Just 8am to 5pm.
--
The horror stories, i'll save them for another time. Electroconvulsive therapy on mental patients in a public hospital. It's one of the most inhumane things.