Text 18997, 115 rader
Skriven 2014-11-06 15:20:00 av NANCY BACKUS (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av MICHAEL LOO
Ärende: Re: health biz 199
==========================
-=> Quoting Michael Loo to Nancy Backus on 11-04-14  02:55 <=-

 ML>> One of the benefits of the ambitious administrators - every
 ML>> little intern and resident in the ER here has the use (and has
 ML>> been trained to use) the ultrasound machine. A decade ago,
 ML>> this was an esoteric skill for which one had to go to school
 ML>> special.
 NB>> Interesting.  Here, I think it's still (at least mainly)
 NB>> the purview of the specialists
 ML> I am sure that the more ticklish procedures are left to
 ML> the experts, but more and more is becoming routinized.

Probably true.  :)

 NB>> but then, they are part of the ER staff essentially too

 ML> Despite my opportunities to compare various aspects of
 ML> the workings of a hospital, I never got a feeling for who
 ML> was or was not capable or authorized to do these things.

It may well depend on the hospital itself.  Also, a lot of my being able
to observe hospital procedure etc has been not from the bed, but from
the chair...  ;)  And with various people that seemed to have a hard
time staying out of such places... ;>  One learns the uniforms color
code, the badges, etc, after long exposure...  :)

 NB>> trying to think if I've ever noted other than radiology
 NB>> staff doing any U/S work....
 ML> But ... I encountered the bladder scanner, which looks
 ML> like any other ultrasound machine (about the size of a small
 ML> desktop computer, with sensors attached and a screen) but
 ML> that does bladders only. They have RNs using these. It
 ML> appears that one scans the area, and there's software inside
 ML> that calculates the bladder contents to determine whether
 ML> there's a blockage. Pretty weird stuff.

Ah, yes, I've encountered that one, with neighbor Gwen... that seems to
be a urology "toy"...  I've only seen it in use in the urologist's
office, and once it was the doc that did it, and the other time(s) it
was the nurse...  It also determines if one has an issue with emptying
the bladder fully.  Lots of specialized scanners... :)

 ML>> Funny thing I discovered about Panama. A lot of the signs
 ML>> are in dual English/Spanish, and the US dollar is the official
 ML>> currency; but few of the people speak a lick of English.
 NB>> That (the signs and currency) probably is a leftover from
 NB>> when the US had control of the Canal Zone...
 ML> Of course; that makes sense.
 NB>> Apparently there wasn't enough interaction with the natives to
 NB>> affect the language so much.
 ML> I was outside the Canal Zone, of course, but there should
 ML> have been quite a bit of slopover into the general population,
 ML> because both the big cities are quite close to the zone's
 ML> (former) boundaries.

Of course, maybe they just won't admit to speaking a lick of English...
but I can conceive of a few scenarios where not much English would make
it to the common folk... most involving a lack of interest in dealing
with any but one's own group... 
 
 ML>> Recent discovery: there is no dominant language in the
 ML>> hospital here among the support staff, from whom I have
 ML>> heard Russian, Kreyol, Spanish, a couple African dialects,
 ML>> and more proper French.
 NB>> Similar here, with the support staff...
 NB>> most speak reasonably decent English as well
 ML> At this hospital professional staff, aside from some of the
 ML> doctors, are reasonably fluent in English, the more
 ML> responsible support staff as well. Some of the janitorial and
 ML> cleaning people have little or no English.

That's pretty common.  Janitorial/cleaning might be relatively recent
immigrants, too, and happy for whatever job they can get...

 ML> Not speaking reasonably decent English dooms one to a harder
 ML> life up here, and I don't really see (in contrast to some of
 ML> my liberal or leftist colleagues) anything wrong with that.
 ML> If you want to get ahead, you learn basic communications and
 ML> math skills, period.

That stands to reason...  If one is unwilling to learn the language of
the country, then one should expect to only be dealing with others that
speak that language, without too much coddling... I do think it a good
thing to have interpreters available for those who are newly arrived,
and/or elderly enough to have trouble learning a new language... but to
expect everything handed to them is a bit too much.

 ML> One amusing aside from this. There was one extremely cute
 ML> (white) nurse's aide who came in to give me a report of some
 ML> kind, as the real nurse was busy (this was during the weekend,
 ML> with a short staff). She spoke in valley speak so severe that
 ML> I had a hard time understanding what she was saying. I sort of
 ML> chuckled, and she said, why you laughing at me, and I told her
 ML> that what she said didn't make any grammatical sense. The
 ML> little witch took umbrage and replied, I'm in school, I write
 ML> lots of papers and stuff. And called me rude, to which I
 ML> chuckled again.
 
Valley speak in Massachusetts, no less... I might have chuckled, too...
but I probably would have mildly told her I wasn't laughing AT her...
just at the situation...  ;)  Sounds like a rather insecure young lady,
actually... ;)

 NB>> Medicine: the art of amusing the ill while nature heals
 ML> Indeed.

Thought you might like that one.. ;)

ttyl            neb

... I beg your pardon, I never promised you a prose garden

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