02:20 - I went to the ward desk to ask if there was any sign of one of the meds that I was told would be prescribed on Wednesday night. I wasn't pushy, I could see that the duty doctor was busy so I waited politely, patiently and quietly, standing next to an agency/cover/bank nurse who I've never seen before. I had no idea that they were dealing with a major problem.
From there, the conversation could have gone in many directions, with hindsight the favoured one for the crisis at hand would have been "we're dealing with a critical situation - a patient has gone into cardiac arrest, we can't attend to anything else at the moment".
But no. Instead, it took a different turn.
Without preamble, said nurse piped up with a brusque "Is it a doctor question or a nurse question?"
Unaware of the crisis, I replied with "It's a doctor question, that's why I'm waiting for the doctor. If it was a nurse question then waiting for the doctor while standing next to a nurse would be a really dumb thing to do".
Her simplistic repost of "He's dealing with a sick patient" could draw only one response...
"We're all sick in here, all 21 of us".
Now that morning has broken and the aftermath of the night has been revealed, it's obvious that our conversation could have gone much better. I have made my apology to the duty doctor and have commended him for his actions. The nurse was nowhere to be seen.
THE SMALL(ish) PRINT... (updated 23/07/2016)
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