(no subject)
Mmm.
Part of my research now is to take bloods from people and collect the data for the prof.
There's this guy in the wards now, who has no english at all, is actually an illegal immigrant, and has been taking heroin (even in hospital) and has been rude and just demanding methadone from the doctors regularly. (although maybe if he spoke english he would seem less...brusque?)
Anyway. I've taken a sample from him last month. And that was fine. I just asked him politely (as he was smoking outside and I had been waiting an hour) whether he could spare me 5 minutes and he let me. So today, I just popped in and asked him again, and he was in a filthy mood and kinda grumbled at me, but I wasn't budging and neither was his security guard, so he rolled up his sleeve.
It was just taking samples from his PICC line which should've been easy, but the lumen was blocked and then he started getting really agitated. And started waving his hand at me (and so how would I get bloods then?!) . Cos he was jabbering away at me in a language I don't speak, and neither did the security guard, I was like hmm.. i'm not sure if he's angry or if he just wants me to go away, because I will get KILLED by my supervisor if I don't get these lab results.So I just tried 2 more times. Then I went out to get the nurse.
So I did find the nurse and she explained that the lumen I did try was blocked, so to just try the other one (I had this weird assumption that as he was IVDU he had the whole PICC thrombosed and was worried I wasn't meant to use the PICC at all) and then she was like "oh hey since you're taking it, can you do the amikacin assay as well" so as I was printing out the labels, the patient walks out of his room, points at me and goes like "YOU!" and started jabbering away at the nurse very agitatedly. In a language no one spoke.
Basically he told the whole world he didn't want me to touch him, (he knows three words, NURSE, YOU, and STUDENT) oh and "NO! STUDENT!" hahaah.
The nurse explained to me apologetically that he usually wouldn't even let the phlebotomist take the bloods, and usually he only liked the nurse taking the bloods (I later found out that this was because she lets him smoke outside and she comes back later to do his bloods).
Internally, then, I was frustrated and annoyed, because I only tried a few times and I did ask him permission before I took his bloods. And to have a patient come out in front of the whole ward and start screaming at you in front of other staff is seriously not a great way to start a week, with no provocation at all. The nutritionist and OT kept eyeing me very dubiously . Furthermore, I was kinda thinking "who the hell WANTS to take your bloods? I'm only doing this because i fucking have to" --> (he has multidrug resistant tuberculosis so any contact at all basically... i'm a walking infection now)
I felt very cold, and very calm. When he was on his tirade, I was just half-smiling and nodding and letting it wash over me like water, and when he stopped, I just told the nurse "Well if you're happy to take his bloods, I just need this ___ and this___ forms handed in with the tubes" and didn't look at him AT ALL, and he was just standing in the corridor. Then the nurse looked a bit more stressed, and then after a few minutes the patient stormed off to smoke --
Actually what I'm wondering now is if I should have apologized to him at all, because I feel a bit bad because technically I did interrupt his morning breakfast, and I kind of wonder if I'm judging based on his background and whether I would have been nicer if he was like Irish or English speaking or something, but I also know that some people are just assholes no matter what, and its better to just always have ur game face on at all times, --
Then again every other patient I have spoken to mainly , 95% are really nice, so I have nothing to complain about really-
but oh so wearying. -_-" pain in the ass. I hope he gets deported soon (from a public health and resources point of view, since he's taking up a negative pressure room ). / vicious
Part of my research now is to take bloods from people and collect the data for the prof.
There's this guy in the wards now, who has no english at all, is actually an illegal immigrant, and has been taking heroin (even in hospital) and has been rude and just demanding methadone from the doctors regularly. (although maybe if he spoke english he would seem less...brusque?)
Anyway. I've taken a sample from him last month. And that was fine. I just asked him politely (as he was smoking outside and I had been waiting an hour) whether he could spare me 5 minutes and he let me. So today, I just popped in and asked him again, and he was in a filthy mood and kinda grumbled at me, but I wasn't budging and neither was his security guard, so he rolled up his sleeve.
It was just taking samples from his PICC line which should've been easy, but the lumen was blocked and then he started getting really agitated. And started waving his hand at me (and so how would I get bloods then?!) . Cos he was jabbering away at me in a language I don't speak, and neither did the security guard, I was like hmm.. i'm not sure if he's angry or if he just wants me to go away, because I will get KILLED by my supervisor if I don't get these lab results.So I just tried 2 more times. Then I went out to get the nurse.
So I did find the nurse and she explained that the lumen I did try was blocked, so to just try the other one (I had this weird assumption that as he was IVDU he had the whole PICC thrombosed and was worried I wasn't meant to use the PICC at all) and then she was like "oh hey since you're taking it, can you do the amikacin assay as well" so as I was printing out the labels, the patient walks out of his room, points at me and goes like "YOU!" and started jabbering away at the nurse very agitatedly. In a language no one spoke.
Basically he told the whole world he didn't want me to touch him, (he knows three words, NURSE, YOU, and STUDENT) oh and "NO! STUDENT!" hahaah.
The nurse explained to me apologetically that he usually wouldn't even let the phlebotomist take the bloods, and usually he only liked the nurse taking the bloods (I later found out that this was because she lets him smoke outside and she comes back later to do his bloods).
Internally, then, I was frustrated and annoyed, because I only tried a few times and I did ask him permission before I took his bloods. And to have a patient come out in front of the whole ward and start screaming at you in front of other staff is seriously not a great way to start a week, with no provocation at all. The nutritionist and OT kept eyeing me very dubiously . Furthermore, I was kinda thinking "who the hell WANTS to take your bloods? I'm only doing this because i fucking have to" --> (he has multidrug resistant tuberculosis so any contact at all basically... i'm a walking infection now)
I felt very cold, and very calm. When he was on his tirade, I was just half-smiling and nodding and letting it wash over me like water, and when he stopped, I just told the nurse "Well if you're happy to take his bloods, I just need this ___ and this___ forms handed in with the tubes" and didn't look at him AT ALL, and he was just standing in the corridor. Then the nurse looked a bit more stressed, and then after a few minutes the patient stormed off to smoke --
Actually what I'm wondering now is if I should have apologized to him at all, because I feel a bit bad because technically I did interrupt his morning breakfast, and I kind of wonder if I'm judging based on his background and whether I would have been nicer if he was like Irish or English speaking or something, but I also know that some people are just assholes no matter what, and its better to just always have ur game face on at all times, --
Then again every other patient I have spoken to mainly , 95% are really nice, so I have nothing to complain about really-
but oh so wearying. -_-" pain in the ass. I hope he gets deported soon (from a public health and resources point of view, since he's taking up a negative pressure room ). / vicious