Tonight my patient was a fresh post-op Iraqi with a fresh above the elbow amputation. Imagine that you are the nurse for this patient. He wakes up, becomes violently upset at the sight of his bandaged and missing arm, and starts yelling (in Arabic, no less) at all the Americans in the room since he holds them to blame for his arm. Members of his military unit are present and one breaks out in tears at the sight of their comrade’s missing arm, more yelling pursues, your patient is in pain because he is moving around in the bed so much, and you have no idea what anyone in the room is saying. The patient is fighting your assessment of him because he #1 doesn’t trust you, and #2 doesn’t want a woman to touch him. You page an interpreter to your ward and attempt to diffuse the situation.
The above situation is the norm for my job. It can be very frustrating and difficult at times. Back home in the states I could add in the statement of “but I love what I do”. Here…I don’t know. I don’t hate it, but dealing with Iraqi’s on a daily basis like this is not what I expected to be doing. Hopefully I will start to be more accepting of my job and start to learn more of the language.
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