For those who are wondering what I do as a profession, I’m a registered nurse in the Emergency Department (ED) of a busy regional hospital in Australia. Recently, I needed the services of my workplace and my colleagues came to my aid. It certainly is a different experience when you are the one on the other side of those hospital doors.

A very close friend came to my rescue on that Monday night, which is notorious for being one of the busiest times in ED. We arrived around 10:30pm and the waiting room was full with a few people waiting to be seen by the nurse at triage. Due to the amount of pain I was in, it was obviously quite clear that I probably needed to be seen sooner rather than later.  I’m not going to bore you with anymore of the medical details because they are actually irrelevant to the reason that I’m writing this particular post.

From behind the blue curtain, it was very interesting to hear what other patients say while their doctor or nurse isn’t within earshot.  There is a lot of complaining about how long test results take to come back (actually out of our control), the apparent inadequate pain relief (whilst laughing or talking on the phone), and the demands patients make with respect to wanting something to eat and drink because they haven’t “eaten all day”.

For those that don’t know, in Australia, we are fortunate to have the Medicare system, a healthcare initiative provided by the government which allows the Australian population access to medical services. In the public healthcare sector, this means that patients have no out-of-pocket expenses. However, one of the downfalls is waiting times for patients in a variety of settings e.g. surgical waiting lists, outpatient specialist appointments and the emergency department on a busy night.  Anyway, sorry, I’ll get back on topic.

So, to the members of the public who want answers and are sometimes waiting for hours to be seen, there’s a reason for that. The department is busy. And the best part is, you’re not requiring immediate life saving treatment, so use that notion to provide some sort of comfort. Yes, there may be people who arrive after you and are taken through for treatment before you, which is I’m sure very frustrating and may make you feel like you’ve been forgotten about, but this is not the case. Again, this is why we have the Australasian Triage Scale (Google it, quite an interesting read for those who want to know more).

The medical staff are extremely busy 95% of the time and they are doing their absolute best to help you in whatever way they can and ideally give you an answer but sometimes this is just not feasible. Shift work, for those who have never experienced it, means that there are lots of times we are unable to attend special family occasions, we are constantly sleep deprived and our social lives suffer. Nevertheless, we put a smile on our face and turn up to work because we love what we do and want to help you.  Hard to believe that I have to say this, however simple manners goes a long way, saying thank you doesn’t cost a cent.

Finally, to my wonderful colleagues. You are truly superstars. There are many things we simply accept as the norm, that we shouldn’t, but we do. We work as an amazing team and support each other, and that is what makes it that much easier to pull on the uniform and walk through those doors every day. In case you don’t hear it today, thank you. Thank you for your tireless efforts in helping people and going above and beyond on a daily basis. What we do is pretty fucking special and we are all superheroes in our own right.  You don’t need to see the cape to know that you are extraordinary!

Until next time.

Luce x