300!
Mr P. Singh just became my 300th patient to be recruited for my thesis. Thank God! It's like breaking the psychological barrier of 300 or something. I never thought I would reach this figure. The clinic just got over. There was an unusual number of patients today...more than 210! That's about 100 more than the usual. I don't know the reason but there were sure a lot of angry impatient patients in the clinic just now. This was compounded by the fact that some doctors did not turn up to run the clinic and some who went on MC.
I ended up apologising to every one who stepped into my door. Most of them were cordial and very understanding. However, I could also hear angry voices in the other rooms. Just 20 minutes ago, there was this loud commotion in the corridor linking all the rooms. One of the patient managed to get in there and started shouting angrily. He was cursing the nurses and all the doctors. I thought he was going to have another MI. He was young (40+), extremely loud, rude and obviously very agitated.
He said he has been waiting since morning and no one has seen him yet. Furthermore, he said how come the doctors can't see the patients faster since it's only a few 'seconds' per patient. Sigh. He finally mentioned that his wife is a staff nurse and despite that he had to wait so long.
I was too tired to even feel angry. I have been sitting in the clinic since 8.30 am and seeing about 25 patients (that's more than 10% of the total patients); only stopping to have a quick lunch and going to pee. I can understand his feelings. I would be fuming too if I had to wait the whole day.
But that is reality. There are just too many patients with too few doctors to attend to them. We are just beyond coping. We don't take a few 'seconds' to see a patient. Some patients will need more attention and hence more time.
And in UMMC, 'first come first serve' does not apply. I know in other public hospitals, those who come early get the earliest numbers and will be seen first. So, some come as early as 6-7 am just to get an early number. Not so here. Here the numbers are staggered. The numbers are broken down into hourly segments. For instance, those starting with '4' will start to be seen from 8 am onwards, '5' at 10 am onwards and so on and so forth. Patients are given a specific time to come and are expected to come as per appointment.
Unfortunately most patients are still under the impression that if they come early they will get an early number. So those with appointment at say, 10 am, will come at 7 am hoping to be seen early. But the people manning the counter will still give them a number starting with '5' and not '4' no matter how early they come. So, by the time they are seen, they would have waited an extra 2 hours unnecessarily. They would be hungry, cold and hopping mad.
It's sad. We all cry for change. The politicians promise this and that. The Health Ministry can pledge to do this or that to over come the problem, but really, nothing really changes. Nothing will change as long as the health system is being abused by patients; as long as drugs are freely given out for a minimal fee; as long as there are too many patients using up too little resources and as long as there are not enough doctors or nurses. There is no political will power to change anything. Nothing will change.
It's easy to give directives to hospitals to attend to the elderly first; but sit down and think, what if ALL the patients in the clinic ARE ELDERLY? So, who gets to see the doctor first? Do they have to go down to the nitty gritty detail of who was born first or who came out a few seconds earlier than the guy next to him? So, it really doesn't make sense to give such a directive. young people don't jam up the clinics! They are still healthy! Elderly sickly people are those who come to clinics.
I am just tired; and sleepy. I am going to drive home later, in this pouring rain, praying I don't hit something along the way (or something don't hit me). I am looking forward to home, see my wife and my kids. Tomorrow, I will fly to Redang....I really really need a rest. Heck, I will probably sleep through the entire conference.
Thank you Lord for giving me patient number 300. May I reach 400 real soon before I collapse out of sheer exhaustion! Amen.
Mr P. Singh just became my 300th patient to be recruited for my thesis. Thank God! It's like breaking the psychological barrier of 300 or something. I never thought I would reach this figure. The clinic just got over. There was an unusual number of patients today...more than 210! That's about 100 more than the usual. I don't know the reason but there were sure a lot of angry impatient patients in the clinic just now. This was compounded by the fact that some doctors did not turn up to run the clinic and some who went on MC.
I ended up apologising to every one who stepped into my door. Most of them were cordial and very understanding. However, I could also hear angry voices in the other rooms. Just 20 minutes ago, there was this loud commotion in the corridor linking all the rooms. One of the patient managed to get in there and started shouting angrily. He was cursing the nurses and all the doctors. I thought he was going to have another MI. He was young (40+), extremely loud, rude and obviously very agitated.
He said he has been waiting since morning and no one has seen him yet. Furthermore, he said how come the doctors can't see the patients faster since it's only a few 'seconds' per patient. Sigh. He finally mentioned that his wife is a staff nurse and despite that he had to wait so long.
I was too tired to even feel angry. I have been sitting in the clinic since 8.30 am and seeing about 25 patients (that's more than 10% of the total patients); only stopping to have a quick lunch and going to pee. I can understand his feelings. I would be fuming too if I had to wait the whole day.
But that is reality. There are just too many patients with too few doctors to attend to them. We are just beyond coping. We don't take a few 'seconds' to see a patient. Some patients will need more attention and hence more time.
And in UMMC, 'first come first serve' does not apply. I know in other public hospitals, those who come early get the earliest numbers and will be seen first. So, some come as early as 6-7 am just to get an early number. Not so here. Here the numbers are staggered. The numbers are broken down into hourly segments. For instance, those starting with '4' will start to be seen from 8 am onwards, '5' at 10 am onwards and so on and so forth. Patients are given a specific time to come and are expected to come as per appointment.
Unfortunately most patients are still under the impression that if they come early they will get an early number. So those with appointment at say, 10 am, will come at 7 am hoping to be seen early. But the people manning the counter will still give them a number starting with '5' and not '4' no matter how early they come. So, by the time they are seen, they would have waited an extra 2 hours unnecessarily. They would be hungry, cold and hopping mad.
It's sad. We all cry for change. The politicians promise this and that. The Health Ministry can pledge to do this or that to over come the problem, but really, nothing really changes. Nothing will change as long as the health system is being abused by patients; as long as drugs are freely given out for a minimal fee; as long as there are too many patients using up too little resources and as long as there are not enough doctors or nurses. There is no political will power to change anything. Nothing will change.
It's easy to give directives to hospitals to attend to the elderly first; but sit down and think, what if ALL the patients in the clinic ARE ELDERLY? So, who gets to see the doctor first? Do they have to go down to the nitty gritty detail of who was born first or who came out a few seconds earlier than the guy next to him? So, it really doesn't make sense to give such a directive. young people don't jam up the clinics! They are still healthy! Elderly sickly people are those who come to clinics.
I am just tired; and sleepy. I am going to drive home later, in this pouring rain, praying I don't hit something along the way (or something don't hit me). I am looking forward to home, see my wife and my kids. Tomorrow, I will fly to Redang....I really really need a rest. Heck, I will probably sleep through the entire conference.
Thank you Lord for giving me patient number 300. May I reach 400 real soon before I collapse out of sheer exhaustion! Amen.
posted by Jimbo @ 3/16/2006 05:35:00 PM
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