When a Gerontological Nurse Becomes a Family Caregiver
On the evening of 28 May 2018, my father, who had always moved about freely, suddenly developed abdominal distension and would not stop vomiting. At two o'clock in the morning I called an ambulance and he was taken to the accident and emergency department. A man who insisted on doing things his own way, my father insisted on walking out of the ambulance and into the department himself. That night I noticed that we were the only patient in the whole department and that the staff were sitting around chatting. They sat my father in a wheelchair, took his blood pressure and arranged for him to see a doctor; an electrocardiogram and an X-ray were needed. He was pushed to another cubicle, where a staff member stuck the ECG electrodes on him — while he was sitting in a wheelchair, no less, which really opened my eyes! Having been a nurse for more than ten years, I had only ever seen an ECG done lying down, never while sitting in a wheelchair; at that moment my father seemed to me like a dragonfly caught in a spider's web, at the mercy of others. He was then pushed off for the X-ray; there was no one around, and I heard a male staff member in the X-ray room shouting loudly at him to get onto the table and change position, as though someone were being scolded for a mistake. My father's hearing is in fact fine — perhaps the staff member was simply used to speaking that loudly — but at that moment it did make me feel rather bitter. When the examinations were over, the doctor told me that a lump the size of an egg had been found in my father's abdomen, that he would have to be admitted for observation, and that there were signs of intestinal obstruction. When my father and I heard this, we both felt that this time it was serious! Yet he still asked me with a smile what was happening now and whether his mother had arrived.
Looking back now, could we healthcare workers in Hong Kong improve the way we treat patients? It goes without saying that work in an accident and emergency department is tense, busy and highly stressful, with more than 600 consultations to handle each day at peak times; examinations have to be carried out as quickly as possible, and it is hard to avoid giving patients instructions a little loudly. We do not expect the service to make visitors feel completely at home, but when the workload is relatively relaxed, the standard and attitude of our procedures and services should still be maintained. For example, should an electrocardiogram not be done more properly, with the patient helped to lie on a bed instead of having it done while chatting with colleagues through the curtain? When giving instructions to patients, the tone of voice really should be more considerate, because the patient is unwell and the examination has to be done; the person is already ill, and to be shouted at on top of that is very hard to bear. There is still plenty of room for our healthcare staff to improve!