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Hospital routes
Spent some time Sunday afternoon talatala going to the emergency(?) section of Vaiola Hospital and I thought I'd just note down a few things.
The hospital has been doing Nurse Triage for talatala patients for a while where supposedly you queue up when you come in and a nurse visually observes and then calls patients to the counter for processing.
(a) You queue at a bench, but you'll probably get better service (it may be because nurses are used to a given behaviour) if you park yourself on the nurses counter.
At least, my experience is that not all Tongans understand what a queue is and we had a few queue jumpers before I and another patient decided that the nurse wasn't ever going to look at the bench and select from there.
(b) The nurse is supposed to fill out some basic information about who you are, address, phone number, ailment.
Some people get called into the nurses station and gets blood pressure tests etc. Other do not.
(c) You are given the form that the nurse fills out, and you take it to the Hospital Records room where a clerk supposedly takes your form and finds your records in the 'library.'
Unfortunately for me, the clerk couldn't find my records so she just wrote up a new file. Now, if you have some serious medical history problems you better make sure to tell the clerk your file exists and she must find it.
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(d) Sit and Pray. After you hand your form to the clerk, you dutifully sit with the rest of the sick people and find something interesting to keep your mind occupied. This Sunday afternoon we had one person snoozing (quietly), no television because no-one ever asked the nurses to turn it on. We had a few people playing with their mobile phones and then the rest of us just staring blank as docile sheep at the walls.
(e) When called, it doesn't mean you're going to see the doctor, but that you're now in the "inside queue." So you walk up to the waiting room in the doctor's area and wait your turn for observation, inquisition etc.
The doctor sees you and realises you're a lost cause and a blight on this universe and there's nothing anyone including your mum can do for you.
(f) During normal hours you will take your prescription to the Hospital Pharmacy. After hours, one of the nurses stations is a temporary pharmacy although they only have the most commonly prescribed medications.
Panadol is commonly prescribed for a lot of things (i.e. aches, pains, etc.) and this is true overseas as well. I guess this means you really should stock your cupboards with Panadol/Panadeine since that seems to be a miracle tool.
5 TRIAGE CLASSIFICATIONS
Level 1: Resuscitation
Level 2: Emergency
Level 3: Urgent
Level 4: Semi - Urgent
Level 5: Non - Urgent
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