The Balamban Crisis - Nurse Safety

Due to a busy schedule (as most nurses have), I have a delayed reaction to the incident in Balamban. I don't have to recount the whole incident. It's all over the news now.

Just a couple of details come to mind. At the time of the event, it was found out that there were only two nurses for 45 patients... That's an approximate of one nurse to 22 patients. 

Let's strip it down to make the math easier. 

In an 8 hour shift, how many minutes of care should a nurse give to a patient?

Emulating the mind set of the patient in the Balamban incident, I'd say she wants to hoard the attention of the nurse. But let's humor her. 

How about 30 minutes per patient? I guess that would be fair for an 8 hour shift. That would make a total of 1 hour and 30 minutes of care in a 24 hour rotation. 

So now let's crunch numbers. 

The ratio in Balamban is 1 nurse is to 22 patients. Given that 30 minutes is to be alloted per patient. 

22 patients x 30 minutes = 660 minutes of 11 hours

A nurse is only (under)paid/works for 8 hours a shift. 

We nurses are also accidental Time Mages. Or at least we have Hermione's Time Turner. 

Nurses are Glorified Nannies or Yayas?

Normally I do not concern myself with ignorant posts on FB especially from ignorant people. That’s a crusade that would probably take years ad infinitum. As Albert Einstein said “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.”

Deep breathing…

It’s almost 5am and as I’m readying myself for my daily jog, I happened to spy my phone flashing a notification. And then I saw a message from one of my group chats. Now I didn’t want to react on the content of the picture. But I sat down and contemplated the words. Were they meant as a joke? Or did the women have specific grievances against one or two nurses that they felt that way?

It does put things into perspective. Can a “yaya” assigned in a hospital give prescription drugs to patients? Do independent, dependent and interdependent nursing actions? Does this post make me feel less of a professional?

For thousands of nurses out there, the pain, the hard work, the fear and anxiety, the sacrifices most of the time we’re bearing them in silence. It does hurt a bit to be downgraded to the level of a maid/nanny. A glorified one with the privilege of being assigned to hospitals.

I will respect the women who lambasted my profession even though they obviously have none for me and for the millions of nurses, some even working right now in the wee hours of the morning, some in lands far far away. Here’s the conversation, names are removed.