Friday 29 June 2007

How Rude!

A busy morning in Endoscopy today, particularly as some assessors came in to make sure the Unit is meeting the Key Skills Framework. The cleaners have been in to buff the floor, trollies are sparkling, and some staff members have even had hair cuts!

It's been a tough morning though. My mentor and I assisted the Nurse Practitioner with her list of patients requiring a Flexible Sigmoidoscopy. This is usually a fairly quick list but today we examined several unwell patients. One was thought to have quite a serious rectal cancer, another was in a great deal of pain, and another required lots of banding for haemorrhoids. Then the rude patient popped up...

He was pacing around the waiting area in his gown and dressing gown. I went over to introduce myself and apologised for the delay in his appointment. I informed him that the Nurse Practitioner would be with him shortly (surely it's ok to have a toilet break? Evidently not). This wasn't good enough.

"I've been abandoned here for over an hour! It's not good enough. This is dreadful service. When am I going to be seen?"

I did want to tell him the extent of what we'd seen that morning - the massive cancer growth in an elderly gentleman's rectal passage - serious things which cause the procedure to take longer. There are many patients in much worse health than him. Instead, I explained again that the Nurse Practitioner would be with him shortly to complete the consent form and begin the procedure. I did consider telling him that she was actually having a wee but I'm not convinced that she would have thanked me for that! I was snarled at, but remained polite and ended our conversation. As soon as the Nurse Practitioner approached he was sweet as pie. Grrr!

It's interesting how the other three patients who were actually unwell were lovely and very polite, whereas this chap who, incidentally, had nothing wrong, was jolly rude. That seems to be the way it goes in hospitals; the sicker the patient, the more appreciative and thankful they are.

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