It was almost a month since I have decided to stop procrastinating and pen down my experiences as a medical officer seconded from my home department to covid wards.
I had the time of my life. On a normal day shift, we will be taking turns to don in and doff out –taking bloods, performing exertion tests on patients, running arterial blood gases (ABGs) and rigorously trying to blow away the condensed water on our pathetic face shields. It was an enjoyable term as I met various medical officers from the medical department and other specialties. Yay to easy referrals from now onwards.
When I first got back to Malaysia, I was shocked to find out that after one day of on call, I receive no rest and am expected to return to work the next day. Thankfully I come from a department with passive calls meaning I can eat, sleep and poop at home without having to sleep in the dirty bunks in hospital. Medical is different. They run active calls aka everything has to be done in the hospital, perhaps, due to the acute nature of their wards –with unstable patients crashing every other minute. The love of medical MOs towards their patients e.g. witnessing a junior doctor changing diapers for his elderly patients (as nurses are too busy outside hmm) made me feel ashamed of myself. Many a times, I turn impatient in clinic towards patients for asking me redundant questions, not knowing that my answer can provide relief to them for another 6 months before their next visits.
Funnily, there was an outbreak in the department with around 10++ MOs and a few specialists contracting COVID-19. Everyone was worried and terrified and the medical team came up with an immediate screening (no thank you to OSHA) with their own medical MOs swabbing all healthcare workers in the department so pick up those super spreaders who are probably asymptomatic. Thankfully I was not positive and continued my bragging rights huhu.
There were also many stories where family members get wheeled into covid ward with one less leaving the wards. Life is a cruel thing, i feel. As practitioners, as much as we want to save an ill patient, at the end of the day, we are only slapped with our human limitations knowing that no one can escape death.
I still miss COVID rota though. Meh.
Doctor on FIRE 