Let's not scream at each other

One time in the labour room of Kasrel Ainy, the resident helped by two seasoned nurses tried to inject LA for episiotomy but he failed all his three attempts. Three bloodied syringes of LA went to waste, the patient was already tearing and time was ticking. He did what he had to do and immediately cut. The Egyptian lady screamed in sheer agony.

Her scream was distinctly more agonising than her previous cries while pushing. I, the student watching over his shoulder, cringed at this ugly reality. Baby was soon delivered.

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One time in Surgical OPC, I observed our assistant lecturer removing a patient's toenail. He injected the needed amount of LA and after waiting for the drug to take effect, gently poked her toe with the needle.

"Do you feel pain?" He asked. She said negative so he proceeded to poke through her toe with said needle. I cringed at the ugly reality. But the patient, blocked from the view of what really was going on, merely cringed slightly.

"Doctor it hurts," she groaned and complained throughout him pulling her toenail out. It was like a torture scene from a movie, except gangs usually don't have the decency of using LA.

(On another note, I remember Double Agent Ward removed Agent Bobbi's fingernails under LA as he gleefully and evilly explained to her that he wanted her to feel all the pain in one go as he didn't plan on supplying her with subsequent doses of painkiller.)

Our doctor turned to me with a grin. "No it doesn't. What she felt was pressure. If it really does hurt she would have jumped out of this bed."

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Sometimes I picture myself throwing a patient's relative out for verbally lashing out on hospital staffs. I can really see myself losing patience with morons. But at the same time, image of our very gigih Vascular assistant lecturer who was yelled at by a patient's relative in front of us students came to mind.

That one time in Department 29A, he very calmly handled the situation. He explained briefly what we were doing and asked him to sit and wait outside. Then he turned back to us and resumed teaching like nothing happened.