8 Random Things I learned from staying in the hospital

 Have presence of mind. During emergency cases, our initial reaction is to panic. But it is very much important to have presence of mind. We need to think clearly; otherwise the patient itself will worry a lot too.

 Be strong. In my case, which is my first time to accompany a patient to be admitted at the hospital, my initial reaction is that I was very nervous – 1) because I am afraid of blood and when I think of hospital the next thing that will come out of my mind is blood 2) because I don’t feel comfortable at the hospital. The scent of medicines usually makes me feel drowsy and uneasy and 3) because I do not have cash at hand that time. But I need to be strong because I know that my daughter is really looking up to me and seeing me weak will only make her feel weak too.

 Make your patient happy. It is important to keep your patient happy to make him/her forget that he/she is sick even for a while. Keeping them happy will actually help them recover more quickly.

 Be attentive. Check and ask the nurse what he/she is going to inject in your patient. In fairness to the hospital where KA was confined, the nurses there always made sure that the watcher is aware of the things that they are doing to the patient. They even woke up those watchers when they fall asleep before injecting anything to the patient.

 Always ask questions for clarification. If there’s something that bothers you or your patient or if the hospital staff doesn’t explain to you what’s happening and what will likely to happen next, then ask them questions for you to get clarified. Don’t be afraid and feel shy because in the end they will charge you some professional fee for the doctor and even for those nurses attending to your patient.

 Demand for what is due to you. From my own experience, nurses don’t bother to give me a copy of all the laboratory test results made to my daughter. They just informed me that the platelets count is still low and on the following day my daughter need to have another CBC test .Though I do not know how to interpret those results; I know I need to keep a copy at hand. Besides, I paid for it so I demanded to have a copy of everything.

 Choose a place where you & your patient will feel comfortable. It is important that you and your patient will feel comfortable. In our case, we only stayed at the pediatric ward. But I know it was a right choice – financially and emotionally speaking. The parents of some of the patients in that ward taught me some lessons. They shared their experiences as a parent and how they handle things when their kids got sick. Having them around actually comforted me and my daughter. And that even made me realized that I am indeed fortunate for having a healthy family.

 Filing a direct claim from philhealth gives you a much bigger claim. On using your Philhealth benefit, you can choose whether you want the hospital to deduct it from your bill or for you to file it directly to the Philhealth office. I learned that you can actually avail a much bigger claim when you do a direct filing rather than allowing the hospital to deduct it from your bill and for them to claim refund from Philhealth. But of course, it takes time before you can claim your money from Philhealth. Usually, it takes 1 ½ to 2 months before they release your check.