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Friday, January 06, 2012

You Can't Teach Caring And Compassion

Of course even the most caring person will have lapses and perhaps if you do a job day in day out(as has been said in the past that if you see horrific scenes on the news or photo's in the newspapers you might be desensitised)but...
Probably because everyone has to has to work there are always going to be some "Wrong Uns" that get into any profession but I don't think anyone can argue that you cannot teach someone to have compassion and to genuinely care for your fellow Human.

I have spent at least eleven weeks watching the care Mum has received at two hospitals and...when I was involved in hospital radio going onto wards for approx fifteen years. I have seen both sides.

Some it is the fault of the nurse/Dr/consultant, some it is the way they have to follow procedures or are simply rushed off their feet being pulled in all directions.

In general though the biggest problem is...attitude and that some simply don't want to be there, the patient is getting in the way.

This last visit the nurses were efficient, friendly and quick to do whatever they were asked.

Where they fell down was again something that is often mentioned.

Food was brought in at mealtimes and they said they wanted Mum to eat something before they let her home.

Mum might've eaten more and fed herself if she was in a chair or able to sit up close enough to reach it but even with the table lowered and the bed raised as high as it was...the angles were all wrong and I suspect had I not been there she would have given up.

At least I was able to feed her and get some soup into her and a little mashed potato and minced lamb with gravy. The meal itself was fine, I had no problems with the quality/quantity.

They sometimes like relatives out of wards when its meal times but in many cases I think that could be a time they should be allowed to be there because if a patient has difficulties eating food, the relative can feed the patient and take the pressure off staff who may be busy doing other things.

Our Prime Minister is according to what I heard on the radio making cuts in the NHS and we could see 48,000 nurses being let go. Perhaps there are too many. Yet in the next breath it is said that he has proposals to improve the care nurses give to patients and that includes at least a nurse checking on a patient every hour. That I would think is a minimum requirement anyhow.

Perhaps if the 48,000 were retained, patients could be seen more than once an hour, that does not necessarily mean you have to bother a patient but you could be observing and if suddenly something goes wrong, you could be on it quicker and that may save a life.

One nurse seemed to be on the ball all the time that I was watching and whenever I asked for anything to be done it was done very quickly and with no protest.

Ideally people instigating such changes should be thrown in at the deep end and have to do the job themselves and experience it at the coal face. That would be good for the Prime Minister. Get your hands dirty and also see the emotions staff have to deal with facing both patients and relatives often having to give bad news. But that isn't going to happen.

Even without the fact it just won't happen, he couldn't go under cover, he's too well known, so any situation would be artificial and there would always be loads of helpers running around or security keeping people at a safe distance which the staff don't have the luxury of.

But again, whilst I am sure some care given to loved ones at home is below par, unless Mum was in need of a piece of equipment only available at a hospital, drugs not available to the general public or an operation...my care is just as good as what she had in hospital and dare I say probably better. As once again it is on a one to one basis.

Speaking of caring some are just that way...the taxi firm that we use, all the drivers go out of their way(and you can tell its not done because for business purposes)they want to help even if its nothing to do with needing a taxi.

Last night one driver had passed by a lady driver broken down on a roundabout and he couldn't do anything at the time but he went back specially as soon as he was able and did what he could to get her car going again. He had some jump leads. He managed to get her on her way so at least so she reached home safely. There are still nice people around(possibly fewer but thankfully some exist)

I saw a similar incident last year when the snow was at its worst(I am not fit to help)but a lady driver got stuck on a side road and spent ages digging around the tyres but could she free herself?

Many cars went by but eventually two cars did stop and had her away in seconds...that isn't taught, its within you.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think you have hit the nail on the head regarding 'care'.We hear all the time about what the gov is going to do with the various problems in the NHS- but what it cant do is make people 'care'.Sure staff can do a good job ticking all the boxes on their job description- just like a mechanic with a service schedule on a car- but at the end of the day these are not mechanical robots, these are human beings,they maybe lying there inert and helpless today, but yesterday they were humans,working,laughing,
loving,crying,,helping others and bringing up families.Surely fellow human beings can understand and be compassionate about that?

7 January 2012 at 21:02  
Blogger Span Ows said...

Good post Gildy, very true.

Anon says "Surely fellow human beings can understand and be compassionate about that?"

...but human beings are animals and as such we may look the same but we are not all the same: by our nature we are very different. I DO go out of my way to help others but I COULD NOT imagine myself doing what Gildy is doing. Some people would be far better carers but it's not their job and even the carers that are there have a list to get through and so it becomes routine and mechanical.

Gildy, a word of advice...stop reading the papers! :-)

8 January 2012 at 08:25  
Blogger The Great Gildersleeve said...

Good points Span...

I'm not a big news junkie anymore and rarely buy a newspaper or look at news websites deliberately.

I did buy the Times on the day Mum came out of hospital(not knowing that she was)just for something to read and fill the hours and it had a magazine inside all about science and though very thin what a lot of reading matter.

I may try and get that particular edition again next month...for the magazine.

When I am alone I will have to be extremely thrifty and watch how I spend my low income.

10 January 2012 at 18:17  

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