My 1st day at the polyclinic attachment

This is my first day at the 1 week polyclinic attachment. Initially I did not expect much to learn at the polyclinic because I thought that I will just be assisting the doctors and running errands. However,today was really an action-packed day for me..

I was sent to the triaging room (a room where patients who are more severe will be in so that nurses can give them priority to see the doctor, if its serious then an ambulance will be called in). Before I step into the room, the polyclinic looked so peaceful. When I was inside the room, the whole scenario changed.
There was a breathless elder on oxygen, coughing severely. The nurse was arranging his appointment with the doctor to see how he can be given priority as his condition is more serious than the others.

Soon after, a young man with laceration of the finger came in, his bleeding was quite severe and the nurse bandaged for him and called the emergency doctor for the day. The doctor quickly assessed the situation by asking the young man some questions (I was the interpreter) and decided to do stitching for him in the triage room.

Behind the screen, other events were also happening, the room was cramped and bustling. A staff nurse and I was helping the doctor gather the equipments needed for the stitching. To be honest, I wasnt really ready to do any procedures and it's my first time seeing a stitching..and I didnt learn anything about it in sch yet!! Can u imagine? The dr just went: "Can u get this for me, that for me?". Here comes the exciting part, the dr said: "wear a pair of gloves and help me compress (press hard) the patient's finger. For that moment, I forgot that i was not supposed to assist in any procedures as yet, seeing that its so urgent, i agreed. I also assisted the doctor by cutting the suture (the thread used for stitching). A slight info: this is the 1st time i am holding a sterile scissors and the 2nd time I am seeing a suture thread and cutting the suture first time in my entire life! (but dun worry for the patient, he doesnt know I am a first-timer, till now he still dunno and will never know)

Initially, I was feeling well and the staff nurse was very kind, she asked if I can stand the sight of blood. However, as the procedure was about to complete, after I cut my last suture, I started feeling faint. I sat down on the chair beside the patient, when I felt better, I went to get a sugar drink and felt well after that.

Through this triaging experience, I realised that it is really not easy to be at the very front line seeing patients of different conditions and symptoms. A triage nurse really needs to be very focused on what she has to do and she has to prioritise which patient is more important. Despite the “chaos” around her, she has to be calm and composed and seek the most effective means to help the patient by arranging the emergency or priority number so the doctors can see them first. Today, I could really see how doctors and nurses work together as a team in an emergency setting. By triaging the patients, the nurses uses her clinical judgement to enable the doctor to know better which patient's require his/her attention first.

One new thing that I learnt about myself today is that I would actually feel faint at the sight of blood. Before this experience, I thought I could stand the sight of blood, but now I know that I will have to try harder to overcome this weakness of mine. I hope that in the future I will be able to stand strong and steady till the end, no matter how much blood or gore is presented to me.