132: 3.2 Standing up

*Details in this post are partly fictitious*

"You have just woken me up!" she exclaimed, very visibly annoyed.
"Yes, but you are in hospital, and I need to know how you are doing," I replied.
"I am fine, I just need to get some sleep! I am so tired, and you have rudely woken me up!"
"Miss, I am sorry that I woke you up, but it wasn't just for fun. And I didn't shake you, I just gently placed my hand on yours because I genuinely want to know how your breathing is."

She was a patient I had several weeks ago. She was in A&E for a nasty chest infection, treated with antibiotics and oxygen. She began to be irate on our second encounter. With the consultant, she wasn't in this kind of mood. I had to check up on her because a colleague of mine said that she had used profanity angrily when he offered to do a blood test on her. Her oxygen saturations were fine, and although she appeared angry, she wasn't in any respiratory distress. She clearly didn't want this conversation to be prolonged, so I turned my back and as I walked out of the room, I switched off the light. Since the blood test wasn't urgent, I thought I would give her maybe an hour to rest before trying again.

The time lapsed, and I plucked up the courage to try again. She was fully awake this time, so I thought its now or never. I knocked with the needle and syringe in hand.

"Hello Miss, its me again. Is it ok if I take a blood test from your wrist?"
"Another one? Well, if you must."
She was still cranky. I better be extra careful. After locating a good pulse on her left hand, I warned her of the possible pain from the procedure.
"It might hurt quite a bit," I said. "I am just warning you."
"It better not hurt, my left hand hurts already from the needle you lot put in earlier."
"This blood test is different, it is from the wrist, and I am just warning you that it might hurt more than your previous blood tests."
"Just get on with it already, before I throw you out of the room."

At this point, I had enough of her cattiness. Looking her in the eyes, I plainly said, "There is no reason to be rude to me, I am just trying to help." She looked away in silence and had no further comments after that. I continued the procedure and left the room to analyse the sample.

I am not someone who would often stand up for myself as I tend to avoid confrontation like the plague. Even when I am right, or even when I am clearly being bullied, I would either stay silent or leave the environment entirely. But sometimes, defending yourself is necessary. This was a great milestone for me because as medical professionals, we are often become a punching bag for patients and their families. We often relent and give in, sometimes to ease our work (because difficult patients tend to take alot of our time) and/or to avoid complaints. But having courage to say, no I would not tolerate unkind or inappropriate behaviour is important. At the very least, to preserve our own sanity (or what is left of it).