Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Will You?

I still remember during my intern or housemanship time in Orthopaedic Department (that was way back in 1998).. I was on call that day. (On call means I have to work and stay inside the hospital for 24 hours for that particular day & night followed by normal working hours the next day, which means working continuously for 34 to 36 hours. If lucky, then I can catch some rest or sleep in between).

I had a middle aged Malay patient in the Orthopaedic ward with diabetic foot and severe sepsis staying inside one of the isolation room. Normally if that isolation room was not occupied by any patients, I will use that room to rest at night time during my on call since I didn't have any other place to rest for the night. The patient succumbed one night cos of severe sepsis. Two days later I was on call in that ward. I was thinking... Should I or should not I slept on that bed in the isolation room? Hah, since there was someone who just passed away on that bed less than 48 hours ago. Mmm... If I didn't sleep or rest on that bed, then I had to either sleep on the chair or sleep at the counter (which was very uncomfortable) and I need to continue working the next day.

At last cos I was too tired, so I opted to sleep inside that isolation room- the same room, on the same bed, and the same pillow whereby there was someone who just passed away within 48 hours ago. Don't bother so much liao cos I was too tired to think of anythings... Well, I get called or paged on & off that night to see patients (new admissions) or to review cases, but no "disturbance" from the "uninvited guest" :)

I'm just wondering.. Will you sleep on the same bed in the same isolation room if you were in my position?

37 comments:

rainbow angeles said...

chuppp first!!!! go mandi first then read :D

King's wife said...

I don't think I will.

Redsponge said...

Doctor Chen...I will not!!!

And for that, I think I am not qualified to be a doctor, not even a nurse 'x'

Anonymous said...

sked sked!! I think I'll go home and sleep... LOL! bring my own sleeping bag at the most... and inflatable pillow... duvet...

Pink Cotton said...

omg omg omg

if i were you..i rather not sleep...WAHAHHA..
wa jin kia ler 'x'

Chen said...

angel,
hahaha.. lidat also can? Enjoy your mandi session :)

king's wife,
I guess most people won't do so too :)

red sponge,
i know.. I remember u mentioning u can't stand sight of blood previously :P

may,
hahha.. I wish I can go back home & sleep too when I was on call :P Duvet? wow... sounds like pergi camping pulak :D

pink cotton,
cannot tak tidur leh.. Must sleep when there are chances to sleep.. or else how to continue working the next day? :P

rainbow angeles said...

*after mandi*
*phang phang liao*
*LOL*

I'd think most of us (esp. females) wouldn't wanna chuei su and sleep there BUT if I were a doc, like u, I'm quite sure I would... ;) I think hor, hantu oso sked of doktor la becos doktor got Healing Powerrrr! Hiaaaahhhh!!

rainbow angeles said...

oops...soli...post dua kali... this Blogger tonite is very LIU!!! And I hv problem logging in! Please delete one comment for me, TQ!

Chen said...

angel,
yeah, u super phang phang now..
I can smell lavender leh.. LOL

Somehow hoh, when working in hospital time, doctors seldom see ghosts leh.. most of the time, it's either nurses or patients who see ghosts :P Dunno leh..

I have a colleague saying this in the past --> The ghost shouldn't disturb us cos we are doing our jobs , unless.. they want to refer cases to us. LOL :P

Delete liao the exectera duplicate comment :D

Anonymous said...

Eeeeee
This doctor very bad one
Always tell this kind of story to scare boy boy
Now boy boy cannot sleep liao

plink said...

Now I orso very sked of exercise bike....

Redsponge said...

DOCTOR Chen, you are superb! I really wonder how can doctors work 36 hours straight. No worry, 'the patients' will nvr kacau doctors and nurses! =)

Chen said...

zeroimpact,
err? Scary meh?
I didn’t mention anything scary lah.. Give boiboi one lollipop :)

plink,
hahha, exercise bike is indeed “scary”.. deleted that liao.. :P

red sponge,
when younger time I can tahan lah..
now I can’t already.. so I choose to work in certain field that doesn’t require to work 36 hours straight.. hahahh.... now even though working for 24 hours straight, I also feel tired liao :P

Pink Cotton said...

yalo...we work for 8 hours a day already wanto die..and tats sitting in front of the pc..WAHAHAH

Anonymous said...

Heh heh heh
I wan cola flavour...
Yum yum yum

13th Panda said...

NO, I can never! Unless i dunno abt it :-p

Anonymous said...

Never. I rather sleep on the chair or kaki lima (kidding) oso I won't sleep on that bed.. alone sumore. Who knws wut will happen la rite?

L B said...

I think I will go sleep on the floor.....

Chen said...

pink cotton,
hahhaa.. syiok hoh? Can sit in front of pc inside an air-conditioned office :P

zero impact,
cola flavour lollipop? I tot u will ask for cappuccino-flavoured lollipop instead :D

chwee,
you are back :) Yeah…that’s what came to my mind at that time too..
too tired liao... just zzzz
no energy to think so much :D

Chen said...

13th panda,
Haha, the mattress and pillows in hospitals are very dirty as well. Once u remove the pillow case or bed sheet, u can see multiple dried stains or blood stained spots on the mattress/pillows..

butt,
sleep at kaki lima??? Wah.. luckily u r just kidding.. LOL

LB,
sleep on the floor? Wah.. the floor is very dirty lah.. U know right.. blood, secretions, discharge, pus on the floor etc etc etc... Even though the HSS has mopped the floor, but still.... eeek. The germs are still there :D

Anonymous said...

wahhhhhh....kelian..mana itu hosp la?..how come no call room one?last time kitorang hseman pun got room to sleep ler..no nid to share room w pt one...but if u ask me if i will sleep on the same bed..i will lor..tat time so sleepi liao..choi hui tou sor ler...hoh?

Kristopher said...

i won't sleep on that bed....hehehe

Anonymous said...

Cappucino if you buy me ice blended
I want bintangbuck
heh heh heh

Chen said...

eve,
mana ah? in Swak Gen Hosp loh.. I dunno how's the situation now.. Last time there was no on call room for HO in orthopaedic dept & for those on call in male medical too.. There are on call rooms for HO in female medical, surgical, paeds & O&G. I dunno how's the situation now, cos I did my housemanship in 1998 :)

Hahha, true true.. when tired time, just sleep loh.. don't care so much liao :P

kristopher,
Seems like from the responses I gather here, those who works in the medical field will choose to sleep on that bed where else those who doesn't work in medical field will choose not to sleep on that bed :P

zero impact,
mmmm... come to think about it..
boiboi is still a little boi,
cannot drink so much kopi nor cappucino nor caffeinated drinks.. LOL hahaa.. so, boiboi shouldn't go to bintangbuck lah :D

gus said...

NO!

*shivers*

Anonymous said...

Merajuk edi
I wan go bintangbuck
I wan
Boy boy wan cappucino and expresso

LX said...

If I ever encountered that situation, it wouldn't be much of a problem to me, since I don't need a bed to sleep. I can sleep practically everywhere - just that day I fell asleep sitting straight on the couch facing the tellie. I guess that's a bad sign cos I used to sleep a lot in class when the lecturer is teaching.

Pink Cotton said...

dr chen ah...you've been tagged bo :))))))

Chen said...

agus,
no? Mmmm....

zeroimpact,
boiboi cannot drink caffeinated drinks leh.. later migrane then how?
how about drinking susu? Milk is good for boiboi, good for growing boi :)

lynxx,
wah.. u can fall asleep so easily? :D Hahha, I remember the zzzz days during Histology lectures :P

pinkcotton,
walao... kena tagged ah?

alamak.. so cheem geh your tag.. *pengsan*

Chen said...

SA,
haha, u will opt to sleep on that bed? ;) Yeah, it's definitely more comfortable to sleep on the bed than on the chairs :D

13th Panda said...

ARGH!! if go hospital..better bring own pillow!:-p

13th Panda said...

CHOI CHOI! Better dun go hospital at all..LOL

Chen said...

13th panda,
hahaha, very true...
nobody likes to go to hospital..
well, hospital is a "dirty" place :)
I have no choice, cos that's my working place, hahaa... :P

day-dreamer said...

Wah... you are rather daring.

But I am still undecided whether I will sleep on that bed or not. Actually, it depends.

Chen said...

day dreamer,
Most of the time, something that one doesn't know won't "hurt" or "worries" him/her. For eg, there are many patients who succumbed everyday in the ward/hospital. And the same bed will be used for the new admission after cleaning ;)

sarah said...

Hi, i am your new blog reader

I would rather sleep on the sofa. is there a sofa in the resting room?heehee.

Chen said...

padi friends,
hi, u are mostly welcomed here :)

Nope, we don't have sofa in the resting room :)