Sunday, March 19, 2017
Time at the Hospital
For the past few weeks in Surgery Waiting at the Hospital not much has occurred. The paperwork was done on time, patients came and went, poor handwriting was puzzled over like Sanskrit. Each day was pretty much the same, until this week. One of the tasks we have at the Surgery Waiting desk is to catalog all of the people coming and going from the Intensive Care Unit. No one in my knowledge has come up until now (we are not a ICU heavy hospital). A whole family rushed up frantic and even had a priest with them. They wished to give their loved one their last rites. I was calm and had someone stay behind to fill out the paperwork while a call was sent back to ICU to confirm the patient was there and could see visitors. The whole family unit had to take turns to see their family in groups of three. It was all very tense as the mood bled into the rest of the waiting room. Eventually these people left and the mood returned to placidity. But it was quite terrifying how that aura of fear was able to visibly control those who were not even involved.
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Hi Lucy! ...This is really interesting, and I guess not something that comes to mind too often when we think of fear or stress. Do you think you might incorporate into your project? For example, after observing people in stressful situations, putting passersby in their vicinity and seeing how they react?
ReplyDeleteI will try
DeleteHi Lucy! As someone who also works/volunteers at the hospital, I understand how fear can affect others who might not be directly involved. What do you think is the appropriate way to help someone who might be feeling fearful or tensed because of a stressful situation?
ReplyDeletePossibly remove them from the situation or distract them in someway.
DeleteSomething you could think about here is how this fear would affect the patient. Does being in an environment of fear and anxiety affect the recovery of a patient? Even if the patient is unconscious? It in an interesting idea and one that I am sure has serious implications in medicine. How could these observations work into your research?
ReplyDeleteYes the immune system is weakened in times of fear in stress so that would stunt the recovery of people and leave them vulnerable to disease. It could extend to unconsciousness, but unlikely.
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