Some nurses don’t know how to treat patients

Dear Pastor

I am a big fan of yours and I really admire the work that you are doing in giving advice. Today, I am not writing to you for advice. I want to bring awareness to the public about the slackness of Jamaica's public healthcare system. You see, I was recently at a hospital where I was to be admitted to have my child. I had passed my due date and was told to come back at a certain date and time to be admitted. Can you believe that I was there from after 9 in the morning, and up to 1 p.m. that day I was still not admitted? While waiting to be admitted, I also saw a couple of babymothers come in to be admitted and the behaviour of the healthcare workers was unbelievable. I even saw a woman come in crying and they behaved as if they didn't even care. At one point I heard one of the nurses say, "What is going on over there?" Then when she saw that it was the same woman crying, she said "Oh, a she again."

EMPATHY NEEDED

I know it is COVID time and nobody wants to catch the virus, but for heaven's sake, we are all human beings and the way they are treating people is not fair. They should try putting themselves in our shoes before they behave the way they do. What if it was one of their family members? How would they behave? They are taking advantage of people because they know we need their services and it is not right. I really hope that something can be done to improve the behaviour of some of Jamaica's healthcare workers.

P.B.

Dear P.B.,

I regret hearing about the behaviour of some of healthcare workers. I know that nurses and other workers in hospitals are under pressure. The work is very stressful. Many are overworked but that does not give them the right to ignore or insult patients. Why should it take so many hours to admit someone who was given a date to be admitted in the hospital? I thank you for bringing your experience to the attention of the public. I do not want to shame anybody because those who do not know how to conduct themselves know that they should not be working in the health service. As we say in Jamaica, "they should not badmouth anybody". Sometimes nurses can be very rough, but the long hours they have to work can take a toll on them so please forgive them. Thank God that the majority of them are wonderful people. Those who do not treat patients well, they should realise that they are putting the healthcare system in a bad light.

Pastor