Source: www.aftertheinjury.org
Having to make a trip to the hospital is never a good thing. Patients are very sick while the family members are stressed. However, these admissions can be smoother if the public remember a few salient things before coming to the hospital.
Someone to accompany the patient, preferably the caretaker or closest family member.
- Of course this is not the most ideal request/situation, but often we receive patients who are unstable and unable to give proper history. In addition to that, some patients are just poor historian and have language barriers as they cannot converse in simple Malay or English.
- Having a close family member or caretaker who knows about the patient’s wellbeing will help a lot if getting the right history i.e.; When did the fever/vomiting start? How was the patient prior to the stroke incident? Is this the first episode or recurrent? Was he able to ambulate or manage himself? How was her appetite previously?
- These questions might be simple but it will help the doctor in the Emergency Department tremendously to come to a diagnosis and start the appropriate treatment for the patient. Delay or difficulties in obtaining this information will halt the progress or proper management for patients as doctors could miss important points and misdiagnosed them.
Bring all your previous medical reports, appointment book, imaging like X-Rays/CT scans.
- Often patients are transferred from one hospital to another or have been seeking medical advice from other centres for their illnesses and have no records/investigations done in the current hospital.
- It is advisable for patients and family members to bring the previous medical reports and imaging so that we can use them as reference and figure out the current status of your disease. This also will help us to resume the treatment you have been receiving prior to the current admission.
- Simple Echocradiogram (ECHO) reporting means a lot to us doctors and surgeons, especially for patients with heart disease, so we know whether it is safe to do emergency operations if the patient needs one.
- If this is the first time you are coming to the hospital and your previous follow ups are at private clinic or Klinik Kesihatan, just ask your doctor to write a medical report, complete referral letter or summary of your conditions. Know that it is your right and their responsibilities to prepare you with a complete medical report.
Make a point to understand your disease condition and its progress.
- No one knows your disease better other than yourself. Doctors and your medical records can help to a certain extent. Like I mentioned before, if this is a new admission in a new hospital that does not have your records, doctors can only depend on you to ask about your diseases.
- So make a point to know and understand about your diseases, importantly chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease, stroke or asthma.
- Remember salient points like your drug allergies, how long you have had the disease, your monthly follow up, any complications, operations or treatments that you are receiving.
- Doctors may have guidelines in treating certain medical conditions, but each treatment is specifically tailored to each patient because every individual responds differently to the medications.
Be aware of your current medications.
- Whenever I meet a patient, particularly senior citizens who are very much aware of the medications they are taking, when or how to take them, I become so impressed. This reflects how much they care of their health and progress.
- Because believe it or not, some patients are oblivion when it comes to their medications. Indeed, some rely on their spouse or children to remember their medications because there is so much to take per day but always, have a record or proper prescription of the medications that you are taking.
- Remember important drugs and its dosage that you are taking especially blood thinners like Aspirin or Clopidogrel, your anti-hypertensive and heart medications.
- Delay in serving these medications during new admission could lead to serious complications that may worsen your condition.
Do not bring along babies/toddlers/small children.
- I still cannot comprehend the decision of some people who bring along their kids to the hospitals during visiting hours or while waiting for a major operation.
- I completely understand if you do not have anyone to take care of your children while rushing to the hospital. But waiting for long hours, letting small babies sleep on the floor of ICU corridors, kids running around in the wards exposing them to very sick patients and drug resistant germs outweighs whatever family values you practice.
- This is another life, young precious lives you are risking. Children’s immune systems are not fully developed like adults so they have lower immunity compared to us. Exposing them to hospital environment is dangerous and unsafe. In fact, the sound of screaming kids or crying babies can cause distress to sick patients who are resting.
- Also, that is why most hospitals have the disinfectant or ‘Dettol’ smell because we need to clean the surfaces multiple times to kill the bacteria, yet you let these kids play or lie down on those dirty surfaces.
- So next time, please, let the children stay at home and do not bring them to the hospital unless they are sick.
Wear appropriate clothing or attire.
- There has always been general consensus regarding the appropriate attire upon entering government buildings/institutions. Of course, we have never really applied this to hospitals, in this current setting, to the visitors.
- Doctors and hospital staffs need to adhere to the same dress code just like any government officials. Shirts, ties, slacks, covered shoes, appropriate blouse, hair styles etc. However, these rules are not emphasized on the patients or visitors.
- It is understandable the lack of appropriate attire for people/patients coming to the Emergency Department as they are in a rush to seek medical attentions. But for those who are coming to visit or taking care of the patients, wearing proper clothing would not be so difficult would it?
- The recent ‘towel-wrapped-hospital-visitor’ incident has sparked some heated discussions among Malaysians. The Director General of Health himself has addressed this issue on his Facebook page and even posted some of rules and guidelines by hospital in other countries, which are stricter, in my opinion. Wearing proper clothing seems more appropriate in the hospital. So I think we could at least try.
I hope these points could help the patients and their family members on preparing themselves prior to hospital admissions. Mainly because, it will not only help the doctors but will exceptionally benefits the patient as well. Not only will the treatment be more complete, efficient but honestly, more cost effective as we could avoid repeating unnecessary investigations and scans if we have the latest information and imaging of the patients.
Dr. Anis Nabillah is a house officer working in a tertiary hospital in Kuala Lumpur. She is also an editor for the Malaysian Medical Gazette.
[This article belongs to The Malaysian Medical Gazette. Any republication (online or offline) without written permission from The Malaysian Medical Gazette is prohibited.]