Bawal ang Masungit
Recently, a lawmaker proposed the posting of 'Bawal ang Masungit' signs at public hospitals to remind health care personnels to improve their behavior towards patients. This issue had become viral to health care practitioners particularly to nurses, who were also victims, and remain to be victims of unjust treatment. In nursing, we are well trained to provide holistic care to our patients. We have what we call the nursing process, and it has always been patient-centered. No book taught us how not to skip meals to finish our endless documentation, non-stop admissions, transfers, bedside care, etc., not to mention the average nurse-patient ratio of 1:15, which is significantly higher than the ideal. Multi-tasking has become a routine. Yes, most of us are understaffed, overworked, yet underpaid. This is what Nursing in the Philippines looks like. Moreover, dealing with patients, and their relatives, is also one of the tasks of nurses. We are the front-liners. We are the first ones to hear the complaints of our patients. And this gives us more chances to be more exposed to unwanted reactions and worse, humiliation. For example, there are patients who want to be aided first, and gets grumpy when you prioritize other patients who needed more attention and care. There are relatives who treat nurses as nannies instead of partners in improving their patient's well being. There are also scenarios where patients become non compliant to treatment until the blame will be given to nurses. The mentioned examples above are just few of the many scenarios how nurses are treated poorly in the country. Yet, the proposed law has given negative impression to nurses. This is a cry for help. I pray that there will also be laws that will protect us nurses, who, despite all the unjust treatments we receive, continue to work compassionately. In the end, we still have high hopes that nurses today will be treated equally by the society.
