Patient safety issues that I came across during my clinic visit to Cheras Baru community clinic were patient privacy, communication between doctor and patient, and hand washing practices.
As the clinic was undersized, there were not many rooms available. ECG and vision tests were held in one same room. An old lady who came in for ECG was asked to lie down on the bed and expose her chest while the nurse who attended pulled the curtain over. At the same time, another nurse called an old man into the room for vision test. Before this man took his seat, he peeped into the curtain. For a second, I was stoned by the act of the old man. The nurse did not say a word and continued with the ECG. I felt that the privacy of the lady was breached. This situation could cause embarrassment to the patient and may affect the results of the examination too. Firstly, I think that vision tests and ECG should be done in separate rooms. However, due to space constraint, nurses should be attentive and should not be oblivious of the wrong doings of other patients. If I was put in a similar situation, I would have corrected the act of the old man without any hesitation and would have explained to him the consequences of his action.
During consultation, a doctor who attended the old lady was not able to explain her condition in layman’s term and did not make any initiative to make his patient understand about her condition, leaving the patient unclear about her illness. Reluctance of the doctor may lead to patient’s misunderstanding about her illness and unnecessary worries. This may also result in dissatisfaction of the patient due to the treatment given by the doctor, eventually creating a bad reputation for the doctor as well as for the clinic. I believe providing the patient with adequate and appropriate information about her illness is absolutely significant. Even though explaining in