I Can’t Be At Two Places At the Same Time…

This past week was my turn to see patients in the hospital. The first day of the week was somewhat hectic, getting familiar with the patients and doing my best to make sure I offer the best recommendations. One of the patients complained of recurrent pain, and requested my team to contact her nurse to give her pain medication. As soon as we walked out of her room, we went to the nursing station and looked for the nurse taking care of that patient. My nurse practitioner, Jane, asked politely, made sure we were talking to the right person. She communicated to the nurse that patient requested for pain medication (which was a standing order in her chart). The nurse answered, “I can’t be at 2 places at the same time, so she’ll have to wait.”

As Jane and I walked away, we both felt uneasy. We are human beings without super powers, so it is understandable that we cannot be at two different places simultaneously. A nurse’s responsibility is to take good care of his/her patients. By saying what was said, that nurse implied that she was too busy to attend to that other patient, so that patient would have to suffer.

If the thought was that, I would do my best to take care of my patients – how would that feel? I would imagine, compassion, kindness, an overall positive attitude. Instead of indicating the patient would have to wait, one would probably say something like, “Thank you for letting me know. I’m going to get to that patient as soon as I’m finished with this (what I’m doing).”

I am pretty sure that if this was what the nurse said in the first place, Jane and I would both feel that the nurse was caring, doing her best to take care of everything, acknowledging the need (and sometimes unexpected need) of the patients.

One scenario. Different ways of expressing the same thing, and very different effects. I will be mindful of what I say and how I say things. I will always keep in mind that it is about the patient care and serving others, and I will do my best given the situation. This is not ignoring the importance of self care.  I believe we can love ourselves and love others at the same time, without any compromise.