(Snippets from the frontline)
Bedpan attitude
Much of my early training was reliant on good nurses providing expert knowledge in patient care tasks. This was on surgical floors in large medical centers, and after a year I was adept making beds, transferring and transporting, and even distributing foods trays and feeding patients (frankly not learned by young doctors these days).
Sometimes nurses were too busy, yet had certain expectation of fledgling doctors. One day after starting at a new hospital, I admitted a patient.
She was in “bed B” but was on a bedpan, so I went to the nurse’s station for help and found them seated giving “change of shift” report. Quickly, with attitude they shooed me out explaining “do it yourself”, so I put on gloves and politely reached around the patient dividing curtain and got the bedpan.
Alas, as a new undismayed doctor I placed the used and full bedpan in the “dirty” area, and retrieved an empty bedpan from the “clean” room.
I walked into the nurse’s station holding the bedpan high in the air inquiring “what should I do with this?”…then stumbled toward them.
Screams.
For the next three months, we got along great!
Gene Uzawa Dorio, M.D.
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