Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Grace in OpenLinkNight has been asking for a poem of our own choosing. A week or so ago, one of my grandsons – an F2 Junior Doctor, fainted whilst working on his hospital ward. He has fainted once before for much the same reasons as this poem explores… Junior Doctors as they are called, have been on a cycle of strikes for months now, here in England!
Fainting is not a feminine attribute
Nor yet a signal effect of fear
When the wave comes upon you like Canute
You cannot command the tide “Disappear!”
Long hours, small meals, emotional turmoil
These will do the trick of draining blood
Effects of low blood pressure you cannot foil
And you will fall right where you stood
Causing alarm to staff and patients
But quickly picked up, handled with patience
Nurses have seen these faints before and told
The management of overworked young doctors
Who, stress-loaded, sleep and food-deprived, folded
Nurses cannot be the Doctor’s Proctors
Can’t change the way the system’s moulded
So Junior Doctors do the very best you can
Demand more pay, less hours
Take every chance to stick it to “the Man”
For by your bedside we can’t bring now banned flowers…
Fainting I know well… the last time it happened to me was at a hospital when the surgeon told me about what procedures they would do.
That said it seems like overworked hospital staff is common… here it is nurses blocking overtime because they are overworked….
Good for them (the nurses)…
You describe this phenomenon perfectly! I can imagine your grandson sinking to the floor, being gently picked up, cared for. I have been lightheaded a few times in my life, never fainted. My former husband, father of my four children … endured four years of med school, a year of internship and seven years of residency … going to ask him if he ever fainted. We’ve remained close friends after 22 years of marriage for which I am thinkful, respectful. He will laugh when I ask.
It’s great to remain amicable – I wonder what his answer will be Helen…
I asked. He came close in 1967, in Danang Vietnam, serving as a Navy physician at the base hospital …. first day in country when causalities began arriving … both Vietnamese and American.
Danang – how the names of those places in Vietnam come back to us Helen – ingrained by so many mentions in the news…
Andrew, you have to be worried about your grandson, and I don’t blame you — or him. What else can he do besides carry on? If it’s low blood sugar, he should keep candy in his pocket.
Low blood pressure mainly, thanks Lisa. He probably hadn’t eaten a proper meal and it had been a long shift. Also his girlfriend just moved to Ireland for her work and it’s not certain when he will be joining her…
The overworking part is very common here too. I have not fainted in a long time and I think its a good thing, smiles. Thanks for joining in!!!
It’s never happened to me – my blood pressure errs too high…
Andrew this is wonderful, I especially love the Canute line
Thanks Paul – I think you’re right that was the best line…