Patient Exposure

While on my neuro placement I treated an Abouriginal patient from a rural community near Broome. I learnt a lot about communication and cultural differences from this patient. I learnt from my own mistakes and from the mistakes of others.

While on the ward he was considered a falls risk and had a permanent male nurses aid in his room. This nurses aid in particular was very forceful man, and often said quite derogatory comments towards my patient. At one stage I was assisting the patient to transfer from his bed and into the wheelchair to go to the physio gym. This nurses aid seemed to take over from me and demand that the patient move. He was very reluctant to move!

I noticed a few moments later that the patient kept on adjusting his pants, he was scared that he might be exposed in front of me. It was at this point that I tactfully told the nurses assistant that his assistance was not neccessary and for him to stop. Just by allowing the patient to regain his composure and give him back his dignity made the rest of the treatment session flow well.

This incident made me quite angry, I couldn't believe that someone could be so disrespectful to another person. I learnt so much from this incident, that when a patient feels volnerable they wont want to partake in any form of therapy and knowing when to intervene in a professional manner to prevent this happening in the future.