Patient attendant: The real superhero

            I have been writing about the stress which patients and doctors go through. But there is a group of people who are seldom addressed. The patient attendant. Usually it will be the patient’s spouse or first degree relative. It is not uncommon to see a friend or neighbour accompanying a patient.

            To accompany someone sick to a hospital is actually a bad dream. One has to take out all the energy, keep all senses sharp, be quick to respond and keep patience at its height if he wish to get his patient out of the hospital quickly. Treating staff take it for granted that the patient attendant is a healthy person who is responsible for the welfare of the patient. Orders, instructions and directions are thrown at the attendant without mercy. The normal person will take a little time to get accustomed to that treatment.  

            Trouble starts from the registration counter. He or she has to fight for a place in the queue and wait for long hours to get a card. The fight continues for a waiting spot in front of the OP room. Again this person has to come with the patient and without the patient so many times before the patient gets admitted. In between he/she has to work his/her way out to find out where which sample goes, where which x-rays are done and where payments are made. He/ She has to make arrangements for the money, find and bring persons to donate blood and spend sleepless night with the patient.

            In the general ward only one attendant is allowed with the patient, who has to be there all the time. But no bed is provided for them. They are supposed to live on the chair that is provided. Majority of them are also working persons. So the more time they spend here, the more fiscal constraints they are going to face. The mental stress of a person who accompanies a sick patient is unimaginable. Although I don’t have to treat children now, during my house surgeoncy, I have seen depressed faces of people who has to look after sick children. Apart from the emotional attachment, it is about the physical work and stress they have to go through. Many a times, I also feel empty in my armamentarium with some patient symptoms.

            It is not only about money and physical stress, even the relatives of private ward patients who have people under them to take care of physical needs also has to undergo the mental stress. But they are better treated than the common man. The corporates know about this fact and some of them provide a hospital staff called ‘facilitator’ who takes them through these maze of hospital procedures.

But a naïve person can transform to a very good attendant in short time. As a treating physician, I can now identify a trained attendant easily. They ask sharp questions, wait and request for advice or service rather than get offended by the first response. They can easily pick up the lag, a phenomenon seen in any service institution. Unless there is a need from somebody’s side, things get postponed. For example a histopathology report which can be issued in five days might get seven days. By the patient comes with report a holiday will come, then the further test will take some more days. Like that the treatment goes extended. But an experienced attendant plans the things in advance and get the staff done things by persuasion.

            So I like to address them as superheroes, because they are the persons who act extra-ordinarily to bridge the gap between the treating facility and the patient while sacrificing their personal interests.