==JAPAN: KM== [Medical themes]

The day started favorably. Things were all right; I did my hair, cleanly dressed myself, took with me my lunch, my name card, and a white coat. I left home at 7:00. I was to work in the hospital to gain experience of nursing. The first day started at 8:00, and ended at 20:00. The second day was a night duty, which started at 20:00, and ended at 8:00. The third day was a day off. The work of a nurse goes in this cycle. I expected a nice day and easy tasks.
I was wrong. The day was far from being nice, and the tasks were not easy at all. And I was to make a lot of mistakes in the day. The work of the nurses started with a meeting as usual. Ms. Katsumura was in charge of me. Each nurse in her department, the second internal medicine, usually takes care of more than five patients, many of whom having leukemia.
First Ms. Katsumura went to each of her patients and introduced herself, and I also introduced myself. Then without taking a rest, she prepared intravenous drips, served breakfast, checked the condition of each patient, and... She did many things with all speed. She was running all the while. At times she gave me some work, but in doing every piece of work, I made so many mistakes. The more I tried to help her, the more I disturbed her; when I was told to number the scale on the tubes of intravenous drips, I did it upside down. When I was told to keep meals cold, I put them on the wrong shelf; I made so many mistakes that I cannot write them all.
By 10:00 I, just keeping up with and watching her, had been fully exhausted, having pain in the lower back, with my legs stiff. The work of the nurse, however, continued and I went on keeping up with her.
At noon, we finally had a recess. Thinking back what I had done, I felt totally blue, and was really sorry to cause her so much trouble. I thought I must be stupid. I would surely become a helpless doctor, always making so many mistakes. Or would I be able to become a doctor in the first place? I felt totally blue.
While I was sitting on a bench in the lobby, I met many patients I had visited. They were cheerful, and talking with them, I recovered my spirits. A woman told me she was taking care of her son with Down's syndrome. She loved him very much. She said that he had been loved by everyone, that he was then in too bad a condition to communicate and smile as ever. I thought if only I could make his condition better. If only he could smile again.
In the afternoon, the nurses worked hard as ever, and I made mistakes as before. The time was felt to be going more quickly. At 16:00, I, and the other two students who were having the nursing practice with me, had a break. They, too, were exhausted though they were good athletes. I felt a little comforted to know that it was not only I who was having difficulties. After that, the day went on in peace, and at last it was all over and we were let to go home. The nurses, however, went on with their work.
I had great respect for nurses. They did honorable work. Their work was really hard. I thought that the work of nurses should be more appreciated in our society. They should be paid as well as doctors are. They should be afforded more time. There seemed to be many things to be done. What can be done? What can I do? I have some proposals. First, for nurses to be more appreciated, all medical students should be obliged to have experience of nursing. By this experience, would-be doctors are hoped to have a better opinion of nurses, and when they become real doctors, they are hoped to show great respect for nurses and think of them not as assistants but as vital partners. Also these doctors will gladly count on those nurses who are more experienced than they. Second, for nurses to be afforded more time, the work which doesn't require special skills, such as serving meals, should be done by others such as part-time workers. In their spare time, nurses can take a rest or talk with patients.
On the first day I had caused a great number of troubles to a great number of people. Even now, I feel really sorry for them, but there were a lot of things to learn. This experience was necessary for me. The next day was a night duty. I went to bed hoping that I would never do foolish things again. I had a happy sleep, not knowing that I was to do stupid things as before the next day.


"Getting It Together"

In this essay, I tried to tell the readers what kind of work nurses do. I expected I could express this effectively by describing my own experience, and wanted to tell what I thought about it. The proposals I have given here may be too idealistic and with many shortcomings, but I wrote them hoping that readers would stop a while and think about them. They may hit on much better ideas. Then, little by little, things will become better.