The Doctor Will See You Now [Non-Fiction]

Chapter 128: Acute Medicine

An old woman comes in with fluid overload due to a bad heart. The diuretic (water-eradicating) medication I gave her was a tad too strong and she became dehydrated from it and her kidney function worsened, meaning I have to give her fluids again.

Her daughter requested a phone update. I updated her the next day, telling her the plan and that I expected after a few days she'll get better. The recovery took a bit longer than I expected because the patient was about ninety and frail. Her cannula site got infected and she was put on antibiotics. She became delirious (reversible confusion due to an illness, usually infection) as a result and her family called her during one of her delirious days. They naturally became quite alarmed at how agitated she was.

Her daughter called on Monday to put in a request for a phone update, but the day ended up being particularly hectic, so I wasn't able to phone on the same day.

On Tuesday, as I started my rounds at 8am, the ward clerk told me two women have shown up outside the ward asking to speak to me face to face and insist that I facetime their family from abroad to 'explain the situation'.

The clerk had already told them they can't just show up like that. Either put in a request for a phone update (which they had already done on the Monday) or request an interview, but they couldn't just show up and expect to be seen then and there. I had inpatients to see in a short amount of time before starting a super-busy morning outpatient clinic session. I expressed the same to the clerk in frustration. But they were still outside, having assured the clerk that they "didn't mind waiting".

No, but *I* minded. And it was going to be a six-hour-long wait at least, because I was not going to postpone seeing my 24 patients in a single am OPD session just to update families that show up without an appointment.

My colleague then whatsapped me. Apparently those two women had stopped her as she was trying to enter the ward, asking if she is me.

They were trying to ambush me. At my place of work. As I was trying to get work done.

I hadn't met either of these two women face to face yet so they didn't know what I looked like, but this was completely unacceptable. If they recognised me and still felt entitled to show up and ambush me, I would never get any work done. Every time I passed them, they would jump on me and expect an immediate face-to-face update as I put on hold every single inpatient and outpatient duty I have -- and for a patient who was actually stable, just confused. It was utterly inappropriate.

The nurse sent them away. I called them after I finished morning OPD. I updated the daughter as she requested -- there was no malice meant by the ambushing; she just had to answer to a lot of anxious family members of the patient who lived abroad, so they couldn't phone in and couldn't visit her, either. But whatever her reasons, I told her that morning's actions were inappropriate. She didn't apologise. I've noted folks here don't like to apologise (and also they don't like to hold doors open or give way... but I digress.) As a Brit, I found that part of the culture rather rude. But at least I didn't get ambushed again.