I didn't even have the wherewithal to say no! It wasn't really a question, anyway. It was more rhetorical and right on to the next thing. I was still processing being told I didn't need to be undressed and just...I dunno. A lot of those months is a blur, just getting through the next thing. I had just finished radiation the day before and then was getting ready for another surgery and just wanted to power through.
So while I know I could have said no, it just never occured to me in the moment, and the moment passed so quickly!
Hi Jo, Good to hear that apart from this terrible experience, you are doing ok. As an aside, they weigh you because some meds are calculated according to the patient's weight, particularly with anaesthesia. I think I have reached an age where I would have told them that sitting on and under 2 pieces of paper is not on! I stuck up for myself for the first time ever earlier this year when a Dr would not talk to me on the phone and the result would have been disastrous due to an incorrect medication dosage. I shudder to think what may have happened if the patient had been someone who didn't have my health literacy.
Just a few days ago, I found myself in hospital. I won't go into details, other than to say that it involved passing out after completing a presentation!!! As part of my investigations l underwent an angiogram. The Dr who did it, did not tell me what he was doing. I knew, but it was all new to me. He just said "little prick", so I thought he was just inserting a canula into the vein in my wrist. Well, he was, but it also contained a potent local anaesthetic and it made my hand feel like it was a ball of fire and about to explode! I actually swore 😂. If he had told me that was going to happen, I would have been prepared. It wore off quickly, thank goodness.
I always say "yes" to medical students because I figure that they need to learn and the more experience that they get, the better. I even let one practice doing a blood test once 😀
Hi Mary! Thanks so much for sharing your own experiences. I always say yes to students, too, but it was just done wrong here, and I wasn't expecting it at all and felt so vulnerable during an already raw and difficult time. And I was pissed about the paper drape thing 😂
I was one of those students once! When I was in paramedic school I did rotations in surgery, ob/gyn (for deliveries of babies!), and the ER. But when I asked people they were always fully clothed and giving consent for a whole lot of things (at least in surgery and ob/gyn, in the ER mostly, too, but a lot of times people had no idea who was in the room at all, let alone care if there was a paramedic student!).
I'm so sorry to hear about your recent medical episode! I hope that you are doing okay now. Whenever I hear 'little prick' now I expect worse, it never seems to be as easy as they say it will be! I wonder if any of them ever have to have the procedures they regularly deliver at some point and think 'hell, that wasn't a little prick at all! That f'n hurt!'
I miss you Mary! I hope you are doing as well as possible. I'm going to try and get up early for one of the upcoming GAPPA calls but my sleep is all over the place 😵💫
I am so sorry this happened to you. It isn't rocket science, but it is being considerate of others especially when they are vulnerable. After so many years of focusing on the patient experience, It is disappointing that people are so inconsistent with their service behaviors or maybe they don't even know they exist. No matter the reason why, your experience was profoundly upsetting to you for good reason. I wish you the best in your future treatments.
Thanks so much Barbara! Thankfully my other teams did a wonderful job, but their care definitely made it clear it didn't have to be the way it was for that pre-surgical consult in particular. It really would have been a small mut meaningful thing to let me change.
I want to be an active participant in my care, like so many people I know when they become patients. But it's sure hard to be active and engaged when you're naked and crinkling for no damn reason in a room full of people!
So good to see you Kira!
I didn't even have the wherewithal to say no! It wasn't really a question, anyway. It was more rhetorical and right on to the next thing. I was still processing being told I didn't need to be undressed and just...I dunno. A lot of those months is a blur, just getting through the next thing. I had just finished radiation the day before and then was getting ready for another surgery and just wanted to power through.
So while I know I could have said no, it just never occured to me in the moment, and the moment passed so quickly!
Hi Jo, Good to hear that apart from this terrible experience, you are doing ok. As an aside, they weigh you because some meds are calculated according to the patient's weight, particularly with anaesthesia. I think I have reached an age where I would have told them that sitting on and under 2 pieces of paper is not on! I stuck up for myself for the first time ever earlier this year when a Dr would not talk to me on the phone and the result would have been disastrous due to an incorrect medication dosage. I shudder to think what may have happened if the patient had been someone who didn't have my health literacy.
Just a few days ago, I found myself in hospital. I won't go into details, other than to say that it involved passing out after completing a presentation!!! As part of my investigations l underwent an angiogram. The Dr who did it, did not tell me what he was doing. I knew, but it was all new to me. He just said "little prick", so I thought he was just inserting a canula into the vein in my wrist. Well, he was, but it also contained a potent local anaesthetic and it made my hand feel like it was a ball of fire and about to explode! I actually swore 😂. If he had told me that was going to happen, I would have been prepared. It wore off quickly, thank goodness.
I always say "yes" to medical students because I figure that they need to learn and the more experience that they get, the better. I even let one practice doing a blood test once 😀
Hi Mary! Thanks so much for sharing your own experiences. I always say yes to students, too, but it was just done wrong here, and I wasn't expecting it at all and felt so vulnerable during an already raw and difficult time. And I was pissed about the paper drape thing 😂
I was one of those students once! When I was in paramedic school I did rotations in surgery, ob/gyn (for deliveries of babies!), and the ER. But when I asked people they were always fully clothed and giving consent for a whole lot of things (at least in surgery and ob/gyn, in the ER mostly, too, but a lot of times people had no idea who was in the room at all, let alone care if there was a paramedic student!).
I'm so sorry to hear about your recent medical episode! I hope that you are doing okay now. Whenever I hear 'little prick' now I expect worse, it never seems to be as easy as they say it will be! I wonder if any of them ever have to have the procedures they regularly deliver at some point and think 'hell, that wasn't a little prick at all! That f'n hurt!'
I miss you Mary! I hope you are doing as well as possible. I'm going to try and get up early for one of the upcoming GAPPA calls but my sleep is all over the place 😵💫
The theater of patient-shaming is putting us in paper dresses.
You can say no to the medical student. I almost always do. Awkward for 5 seconds > claustrophobic for an hour.
I am so sorry this happened to you. It isn't rocket science, but it is being considerate of others especially when they are vulnerable. After so many years of focusing on the patient experience, It is disappointing that people are so inconsistent with their service behaviors or maybe they don't even know they exist. No matter the reason why, your experience was profoundly upsetting to you for good reason. I wish you the best in your future treatments.
Thanks so much Barbara! Thankfully my other teams did a wonderful job, but their care definitely made it clear it didn't have to be the way it was for that pre-surgical consult in particular. It really would have been a small mut meaningful thing to let me change.
I want to be an active participant in my care, like so many people I know when they become patients. But it's sure hard to be active and engaged when you're naked and crinkling for no damn reason in a room full of people!