Learnt lesson...

Yesterday, I took time off to accompany SYuen for her medicals and it was a good day of learning. Though parking your car at the GH car park area can be quite a challenge, the waiting hours were also another factor. That day, SYuen's course mate, Lina joined us as she too wanted to have x-ray for her swollen knees. Arriving at the hospital, we immediately went to the  registration counter and what greeted us was really unexpected. The pews of chairs were filled to the brim with a sea of people and it is only about 10.00am that morning. After the usual registration, SYuen went in for her usual preliminary recording of weight and BP readings. Along the corridors, you could see rows of people waiting for their turn to visit the doctors ranging from the elderly to the middle-aged.

As SYuen went to her seat with her friend, I was at the Consultation Room corridor and watched the people's antics. I love watching people and seeing what they do all the time. I am fascinated with the human reaction and interaction. I learned a lot by looking at people. There was one elderly man who tried very hard to jump queue while there was another impatient lady who brought her mother for medical attention. She was complaining about people jumping queue and this went to the ears of the Chief Nurse (Ketua Jururawat). In honesty , the Chief Nurse was like one busy honey bee that morning and she was a fine example of how a leader should act. I looked at her and how she handled the situations before her. She took the trouble to explained to the old man that he cannot jump queue and that his turn will come after the next 4 patients. She seated him down and asked her staff if anyone had biscuits or drinks for this old man. She then proceeded to the complaining lady and told her that their clinics are overflowed with people and that no one is jumping the queue. She even went on to explain that her staff were also overwhelmed by the  sudden surge of patients. She asked everyone to bear with it calmly.  She then told the lady to bring her mother along and ushered her to a nearby seat and assured her that everything is done accordingly. I could see that the "Sister" as she is fondly called by her staff to be one dedicated nurse. The way she moves to encourage her staff and to encourage the people despite the mounting pressures and mounting patients were tremendous. It is staff like her that brought a lot of cheer to the public's heart. I must say that this unselfish act on her part brought so much honour to the nursing profession. 

As I leaned on the walls of the corridors, I saw elderly people in their " hot rods" a.k.a wheelchair being moved from one room to another. I saw one elderly woman who stared blankly and body slumped in the hot rod waiting for consultation while her son asked me if I was okay to let them go through first. I was okay with it, Then there's this old man in the hot rod, shaking all over and with a tube running down his nose. His family asked too if they could meet the doctor earlier than my daughter. Again, I said go ahead . All in all, five people went ahead of SYuen before we actually met with the doctor. When SYuen eventually managed to see the doctor, SYuen had a clean bill of health and I was happy. Almost ecstatic and relieved that everything went on fine. But as we turn to move away from the Consultation Rooms, more people poured into the area. I wonder how would the young doctors cope with the influx of patients. I guess, they would just had to have the passion to be doctors. So far, I don't see the enthusiastic doctors along the corridors of consultation. All I see are young chickos with attitudes and one long queue of disgruntled patients. I guess, the doctors desperately needed to learn a lot from the Chief Nurse (KJ) in terms of handling the patients. Maybe the medical profession in GH are slowly improving their images and professionalism but there is still a lot of room for improvement. Indeed there is still much to do....