Medical students at the University of Amsterdam have to go through a 4-week internship as a nursing assistant, to get a hang of how healthcare is organized, how we as a future healthcare provider are going to do this, which personal qualities/behaviours we have to ditch or learn, and how medication is passed around in nursing homes or hospitals.
Our tasks include helping people eat, washing them, dressing them, and to keep an eye on their wellbeing.
Initially, I thought, "Nursing assistant interns.. For real? We're going to be doctors in 6 years. Our tasks won't include washing them or feeding them. It'll be healing them, or keeping their lives manageable if they have a medical condition..
But okay. It's a mandatory thing in our med school programme. I'll bite my tongue and live through it.
And maybe I'll even learn how to deal with people who suffer from dementia. At least that'll be useful. And maybe they're just trying to win our hearts for Geriatrics."
It's day two of my internship. And I've already learned several things.
A. Patients with dementia can be nasty.
B. The nurses I'll be accompanying can be nasty.
Point A refers to a patient who had been very ill recently. He also has a form of dementia.
One way or another, he was in pain, and he didn't like it when it was his turn for a quick washing and changing of clothes. So he lashed out. Not at me, but at my mentor for that day.
He normally is quite a decent guy, but illnesses and pain will make anyone crabby. Even me.
Point B refers to another mentor (a nurse? nursing assistant?). My sweet colleague and I had been working for over 8 hours already. My very nice mentor for the first part of the day was already gone (her shift ended even earlier than mine's!), and then, this new supervisor comes in for her shift. Barely takes a look at me and my colleagues, barely introduces herself, or asks why I'm there, and for what purpose, and goes on to ignore us to take care of some obviously very difficult things (not).
I'd been sitting on my ass for some time, while also keeping an eye out for the patients. My shift was almost done, and I'd worked both in my own department, and I'd also assisted at the nextdoor neighbours, who were running a bit behind on schedule.
Hell, I even had to dig up my Spanish language skills to win the trust of one of the patients.
(Seriously? Giving care to people is hard enough already. Giving care to people who do not speak the main language of your country? Worse. So much worse.)
So I was there, sitting on my butt, like my very nice colleague.
And then, this new wench suddenly turns on us, and reams us out for sitting on our butts while we're supposed to be learning things.
Are you fucking kidding me? We've been taking care of people for nearly 8,5hrs already, and you come in and have the nerve to bitch at us? At me, who is clearly new, unsure of what to do, and whose purpose here you do not yet know?
But I bit back any snarky remarks. It was only my 2nd day. Out of how many. I need to remain friendly, for now. But seriously? If I'd been the doctor in charge there, I sure would have reamed her out for picking on cute little students.
And no, I'm no fan of abusing my power, even though my status as a medical student does come in handy sometimes (imagine the praise from Asian relatives and friends.. Cause doctors are still amongst the most revered people in Asia).
NB: Date and time of this post have been tinkered with to ensure both patient privacy and my own privacy.
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