Friday, November 03, 2006

A Great Disservice

I was back in the hospital earlier, gathering the paperworks needed for residency, and to have several lab exams done to get my clearance. I've noticed how inefficient some employees were, back when I was still an intern... but falling in line with the rest of the people to get papers signed and to have labs done further opened my eyes.

Maybe because I've rotated in different hospitals before so I can't help but compare --- but a lot of PGH nurses are extremely inefficient. Using that term is putting it nicely. A lot of those nurses are just plain lazy. And when I say a lot, I mean MAJORITY. The fact that even those who never worked in other hospitals notice their laziness says a lot. Where else can you see nurses who can't be disturbed during their "meal breaks", even when there's an emergency? One time in the medicine wards, a patient went into arrest at around 12 AM, and no nurses were coming even when we kept on shouting for them. Apparently, they were having their midnight snacks. They eventually came after a few minutes, and I wondered what difference it made because they made lousy assistants. Then one time when I was on solo duty at the Cancer Institute, a patient went into arrest, and no nurse came to assist me even when I was screaming at the top of my lungs. I had to run back to the nurse station which was within hearing distance, and found them in the middle of endorsements, which is another one of their "untouchable" sessions. The outgoing shift wanted to get out of their as soon as possible, hence they don't want their endorsement sessions to be disturbed. They don't want to go into overtime, so they pretend to be deaf. Granted there was this one nurse who did try to help me, and she seemed sincere when she apologized for the behavior of her co workers--- I saw the shame in her eyes. But the rest of them didn't really care. I've never met people who are so obssessed and strict with time, with their work shifts. Even in the operating room, they mumble and grumble when they go into overtime, and no amount of pleading would work if it would mean that they'd have to compromise their time. During our breast mission, one patient's operation was postposed because the previous operation was delayed, hence the following would start a few minutes late. Who cares if we were doing it for charity? Apparently only the doctors give a damn about charity work. If it means sacrificing their time, nurses don't give a f*ck. So what if they go into overtime?! It's expected in their profession, for you can never tell when emergencies can happen. If they can't deal with that, then they'd better find some other sort of work for they are in the wrong profession. What makes it even more sickening is the fact that they only work 8 hours each day, and they have the nerve to complain about time! Depending on our residency program, some doctors rarely get to go home! and so what if they go on graveyard shifts at times? When I go to their stations after midnight, most, if not all of them are asleep. And to think I haven't slept at all for days, and there I was still working. Everytime i hear one of them complain about their f*cking work schedules i try so hard to keep myself from shutting them up.

I noticed though, that those nurses at the private divisions seem to be better. What would account for such difference? Is it because in the charity divisions, they're serving people who don't pay much, or don't pay at all for their services? Does that give any person a right to give substandard service? i noticed the same inefficiency when I do some transactions at several government offices. Inefficiency is rampant. Laziness is commonplace. When lunch break lasts from 12 noon to 1 PM, expect it to start at 11 AM and end at 2 PM. And they cannot be disturbed during such breaks. And at government institutions, good public relations doesn't seem to exist. Most workers aren't accomodating and friendly; mst are antagonistic. each time you'd ask for their help, it's as if they're doing you a really big favor. Even if it's part of their duty to help you, they act as if they're being disturbed. If they don't want to deal with people, they'd better put themselves inside a box and look for work there instead. If they're in a line of work that involves service and yet views service as a huge burden --- these people better quit there jobs. For I cannot think of a greater disservice, than getting substandard service or no service at all from those people who are meant to serve.

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