May the year of the dragon be awesome in every imaginable way!

Here’s to great things and a great year!

The key word being, happy.

When an alarm beeps, what does your instinct tell you to do?  I thought there would be no other answer other than to investigate why it is beeping and then to act on it.   Sounds logical?  Natural instinct?  Common sense? (which by the way is not common).  After all, if you set your alarm clock you will either press the snooze button or stop it to wake up, isn’t it?

Today I discovered that it isn’t so.  I was so disturbed that a houseman actually ignored an alarming monitor AND this is the reason given — WE NEVER TAUGHT THAT WHEN AN ALARM BEEPS, YOU HAVE TO ATTEND TO IT.

Let me make it clear if it is not clear enough.  When a baby who is on ventilatory support’s oxygen saturation monitor is beeping loudly and persistently because the baby has desaturated to unacceptable levels, the baby is “screaming” for help.  The monitor is trying to tell you that there is something wrong and you need to attend to the baby and rectify whatever problems that have come up.  Machines are built with alarms for a reason — to alert and attract attention when whatever it is monitoring is not within it’s set normal range.  Hence if you plan to ignore the alarm, don’t even bother putting the patient on monitoring in the first place.  If you need to be told to react to an alarm, then I am speechless.

Again and again I emphasize that the babies are innocent.  They are helpless and voiceless.  They can’t complain when you prick them again and again even when they have arterial lines in-situ just because you didn’t bother to look at the baby as a whole.  They cannot scold you when you intentionally insert and leave non-functioning cannulas in them just so you can have a good nights’ sleep but they end up with a swollen arm 3 times the size of their original arm.  They can’t curse you when you ignore them while they are choking and drowning because you refuse to see that the mask covering their noses are filled with water making them literally drown on land.  How ironic is that? Drowning on land???  So when an alarm beeps, it is a plea for help.  And if you can consciously ignore an innocent tiny baby’s cry for help, then medicine is not for you.  You need to have a heart.  And conscience.  And guilt.  If you practice medicine and have none of that, AND can still sleep soundly every night, then the only consolation I have is I believe in karma.

If I can wish for anything for the coming year, I wish for conscience and guilt.  For those who need it.

Ignorance I have become used to, but this is a whole new low, and alarmingly disturbing…but I’m not the kind that ignore alarms.  Unfortunately, sometimes, for reasons beyond our control, we are made to turn a deaf ear and look the other way.

Sorry.  Not me.  Never.

Wishing everyone a very merry Christmas and an awesome New Year to follow!  Have a great time with family and loved ones…I know I will!

On lazy sleep-in weekends and right before rushing off for morning weekend rounds, what wouldn’t I do to see a Nespresso Lattissima Plus sitting on my kitchen counter, just waiting to make me the perfect latte at the touch of a button.  Sigh…

Anybody wants to contribute to Pohf’s Christmas Coffee Fund? Remember, sharing is caring!