In the last hour of our shift yesterday I tried to make things FUN! for the poor peoples and their childrens who had been waiting so long to see me.Fun fun fun! I must have been delirious after twelve hours of non-stop work.
There were a few X-ray waiting to be reviewed that belonged to patients with possible fractures.
I picked up the first folder and was about to put the X-ray film up on the lightbox...X-ray FILM...!!! Suddenly I had a bright idea
I went out to the waiting room and called for the owner of the X-ray.
"Would Mrs XYZ please be so kind as to join me at the premiere of her right leg's debut show?"
Mrs XYZ looked at me like I was on crack, but said nothing, as I wheeled her into our unit.
I positioned her nicely in front of the lightbox and began the show.
"As you can see madam, I have procured fantastic front row seats for you to this spectacular moment in your right leg's history. The title of this show, 'Does Mrs XYZ have a broken tibia?' "
I hummed the theme tune to 20th Century Fox as I placed the radiograph on the lightbox.
Her tibia was completely intact.
"Oh dear Mrs XYZ, " I said, ( her face fell, expecting bad news)
"Unfortunately this is a very boring movie as your bone is not actually broken! Hoorah!"
Mrs XYZ didn't get it and was looking around the unit nervously for someone normal to explain to her whether her bone was broken or not.
I thought I was being awesome. The patient thought I needed admission to the psych ward. Oh well. Seems I failed at bringing joy and laughter into the unit. Turns out it wasn't that hilarious. Clearly I need to work on my material.
:)
2 comments:
I'm exhausted just reading through your recent posts. Sorry that your attempt to lighten things up flopped completely. What will you do in 3 months?
In three months I will be transferred to a secondary hospital. It is also situated on the Cape Flats in an equally rough neighbourhood. A the moment it is the hospital I refer my cases to that need further investigation and ward stay. So basically it's like Karma. I will be working in the casualty/trauma unit. It will be slightly easier in that I will always be working with a team of doctors and there is always a senior emergency medicine registrar on call with us in case we run into trouble. THANK GOODNESS! It will be nice to have some back up for a change! was thinking of coming over to Canada once my Comm. service year is over. Just for a change of scenery and as a way to travel...
Post a Comment