It was an hectic call!
There is a lot of difference between taking a call in a Psychiatric hospital and a teaching hospital for me.At least everybody in a Psychiatric hospital is there for the patients and they are the most important people in the place as far as I am concerned.Same cannot be said of the usually crowded Casualty room of my hospital.It is usually difficult to make the patients comfortable because both the staffs and the other patients see them as different,neglect them sometimes and the place may not be very conducive for the usual detailed and personal history taken from the patients.Sometimes one cannot just understand the level of stigma and ignorance displayed by people who are even in the health profession.The mere mention of the word psychiatric patient arouses bias and stigmatization.
Well, out of the five patients I saw,two were severelly depressed,two were manic,while the last came with dystonic reaction.This goes to show how common mood disorders are,especially depression.The overall burden of mental illness is obviously increasing as typified by scenerio in JUTH.
The facilities are simply inadequate!
For a unit that serves states that include Plateau state and the neighbouring Nassarawa state,Bauchi state,Kogi state,some part of Kaduna state;it is becoming obvious that the 20 bed female ward and the 26-bed male ward allocated to the unit are not adequate.More especially as most Psychiatry patients stay at least one month in the hospital.
I had earlier treated the first patient who obviously needed admission on out patient basis.However,I just had to admit this other patient who came in from a neighbouring state,severelly depressed and almost going into stupor.There was no space both in the female Psychiatric ward and the female medical ward,so I had to relocate a stable patient from our ward to the female surgical ward and admit the patient as I had met resistant in trying to admit her in the surgical ward.It seems they just don't want to hear the word psychiatric patient.One has to turn into a lobbyist more or less.The energy expended in trying to get this done seems to be more than one expends on really attending to the patients.
The two manic patients were something else.Most especially the last patient that I saw in the night.Very garroulous and intelligent really.Says he wanted to ease himself and outran the people that brought him and absconded after almost two hours of clerking in the middle of the night.
I was simply drained by the time I left the hospital,more from trying to get right treatments and space for my patients than from the consultations given them!
3 comments:
Hi. Thanks for your thoughts on the Psychiatry unit at JUTH. I think my husband will enjoy your perspective after spending a few weeks there on his short posting in June.
Thanks, too, for your comments on my blog. You're right: not all of Nigeria is a farm!! Thank God for that. And as harmattan approaches, there will be even less farm, I suppose. No offense was intended. I try not to make sweeping statements about Nigeria, but I've lived here for 16 years and at least have a taste of what "real life" is like here. :) I hope you can laugh with me about Nigeria as I can laugh with you about the absurdities of the U.S.!
Hello.
It been long I did wish to have a psychiatrist as pal but my wish never came to being!!!
now that you seems good enough to enlighten us on mental health.
I would love to know if cannabis sativa could actually cause any form of mental illness, this is because our society attribute and strongly believe marijuana is a basic source of “madness” especially among the youth suffering from mental sickness.
Aside, in society like ours where street urchins and area boys constantly throw out their wicked fangs at the innocent, unleashing terror at both human life and properties the society most times recognized weed as the underlying factor for there criminal acts.
In the cause of my youthful exploration as an undergraduate at Obafemi Awolowo University, I have come across different drugs Cannabis inclusive, thank God I was never a victim, but the point is I see a lot of young chaps out there suffering from psychosis and stuffs like that!!! And people really believed they got it all from marijuana.
I myself started taking “J” (street name) some 7 years ago and I remain sensible enough to get it all well, finished school without getting into trouble, did my NYSC without any form of mental disability and got a job with a reputable organization and I can say am doing credibly well in my career path, same with so many of my “J” colleague.
so let me hear your view my dear Dr
Kunle,
Thanks for your comment on my blog.I have taken note of comment,although I am confused when you said you were not a victim of drug use but went on to sat that you have been smoking 'J' for 7 years!
I will do a post on Cannabis and mental health soon and I hope you will find it educative.
Meanwhile in the interim keep fit physically and mentally.
Great Ife!!!!!!!!!!!!
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