First of all, I never thought that this will be my first post after revamping my blog. Second, I was so amazed by this person’s ability to piss me off; I had to say something or I might explode.
With all due respect Ms. Fely Sicam, but there are a bunch of bullshit in your article; this isn’t even worth publishing.
I am a nurse, PRC registered 2012, and I am studying to be a doctor. And I know I’ve earned every right to react on what you wrote.
Iisa-isahin ko po ang ilan sa mga ito.
1. Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago is seeking for probe on FAKE doctors, which meant those who didn’t study to become one but has a medical clinic somewhere, or those who didn’t finish medschool but decided to claim that they did.
2. I’ve read the whole article but I can’t seem to find where in the situation was your friend “humiliated”. Can you please enlighten me?
3. The RESIDENT DOCTORS that you’re calling fake are the first line of doctors to see the patient when they arrive at the Emergency Room, they are LICENSED, they don’t just believe that they are.
Here’s the stages every resident doctors passed:
A. Graduate a four-year course
B. Go to Medical School for 4 tiring years
C. Internship for a year
D. Board exam review for a year
E. PASS THE BOARD EXAM
F. Become a General Practitioner
G. Go on training or moonlighting
H. BE A RESIDENT DOCTOR
I don’t know where in that stage you “believe” that resident doctors are under-board, and besides, ANY GRADUATE OF MEDICAL SCHOOL EARNS THE RIGHT TO BE CALLED A DOCTOR, which means that even if one is under-board, hindi po ibig sabihin nun is FAKE DOCTOR siya.
4. You said it, you’ll only “respect” a doctor when he acts like one, who cares, who has the compassion, who has the attention, who has the heart, and who has the hand that cures the sick. But Ma'am, aren’t you taught to respect EVERYONE?
5. Please elaborate the “casual wear” the nurse who attended you wore that day. Because a lot of hospitals have nurses who wears scrub suit, which is not a “casual wear” but a uniform.
6. The nurse asked you kung “Ano PO ba ang problema?”, that’s supposed to be answered with what is the reason why you went to the ER in the first place, not with “Ikaw ang nurse, dapat alam mo ang problema kaya nga dinala dito”, nurses attend to every patient brought inside, we can’t possibly know what the problem is just by looking at the patient. We NEED information from you to know what approach we’ll do. It was you who was arrogant, not the nurse.
7. That “sandali” that took the doctor to arrive, saved someone’s life too. Medical practitioners don’t ignore patients intentionally, the nurse have already told you that the doctor has a patient, he can’t bail out on that one to attend you. I know, it is not ideal, but Ma'am, you brought your friend to a government hospital, the nurses and doctors need to attend to hundreds of patients, according to priority. You should’ve brought your friend to a private hospital who has a little few patients than the government hospital.
8. The resident doctor who was not in uniform, has no name tag or insignia might be working at the ER for several hours, attending to various patients with different problems. He might not be on uniform because a patient threw up on him, or in a doctor’s coat because it was too hot in the ER, he can’t move properly. Besides, a doctor’s ability is not measured with what he wears.
9. The nurse and the doctor are not at all speaking english. First of all, nasa Pilipinas po tayo Ma'am, Pilipino po kayo. Second, government hospital po pinuntahan niyo, most of the time, ang mga pasyente po sa mga pampublikong ospital ay ang mahihirap, you don’t expect nurses and doctors to answer you in english if it’s not necessary. Nakaka-intindi naman po kayo ng tagalog, kailangan ba talaga ingles silang sumagot?
10. Nurses and doctors do their best to give the patients what they need to the extent of risking their lives just to save yours, or your family members and friends. Please research on the word “malpractice” because there is no indication in your article, that the nurse and the doctor commit such thing. There are things that need to be done differently in public hospitals, to accommodate everyone who needs to be accommodated. You don’t expect too much of the ideal, book based practices you read, because everything else in that hospital isn’t as great as those hospitals you read too.
Next time Ma'am, don’t just talk, you need to see, and put yourself in the situation of others. Don’t just complain, see the picture as a whole. Don’t judge just because the situation isn’t in your favor. As my clinical instructor in college said, “Fairness is relative, if it’s not in your favor, it’ll always be unfair”
May God Bless you Ma'am, and may He enlighten you.
- a Nurse and a future DOCTOR