Diathermy and Ego

 

As I've said many times before, my Brother Porters mean everything to me. That does not mean that I like all of them or consider them all friends. As HP's we share a common destiny and that is the sole basis of my sentiment. I dislike many; and among those I don't actively dislike there are more I am wary of, because, like us all, they are so often tempted to do the conventional thing in their interactions with others. One individual is a man I will call Abbas. He was a Delivery Suite porter who was one of the culprits in my story about "helping each other out", see the background link below. This was not the first time Abbas tried to pull one over on me thinking he could get away with it. He was actually the instigator of the whole "let's help each other out" hoax. I remember him chasing me out of the hospital's main entrance one morning demanding to know why the topping up had not being done. I explained that I was on nights, not lates, and so it was not my responsibility. I'm taking a risk here because only a handful of porters end up being trained for DS and those on the inside who are old enough will be able to identify Abbas from my report, but I can't avoid that. As I've said before, we represent a crack contingent. Abbas was a middle aged Moroccan who helped train me for the JRI (the original name for the "Women's' Centre") lodge when I started in 1988. He later followed me into DS. Once he did, he began to grate somewhat on the nerves of the other porters. Abbas was always criticizing his departmental team-mates, so much so that we began to dread it when he relieved us. He lambasted us to the point of perfectionism; yet, ironically, his own quality of service was mediocre at best. He had a habit of turning up for duty and just before handing over, when his relieved was heading for the changing room, he would find some piece of minutiae he thought they did wrong and tackle them before they could get away. He did this many times to me and I did my best to defend myself in those situations; but the diamond of those occasions revealed something about Abbas' personality that is also revealing about human nature in general.
 
I was on two-to-ten and he was on nights. As per normal practice, he turned up at 9.50 PM to clock in, change into DS whites and be ready for duty; he was always punctual, I'll give him that. He disappeared into the theatres like he always did when he came on duty and I knew exactly what he was doing. I bolted for the changing rooms, but I was too late. "Ben, come with me!" he ordered in his high-pitched nasal accented voice. I followed him back into the department, rolling my eyes. What was it this time? Had he found a speck of dust on top of the operating lamp or a scrap of limescale of the scrub sink? He pointed at the diathermy machine. One of our jobs after cases was to replace the diathermy plate. A diathermy is a surgical tool that uses electrical current to generate heat, usually for cauterizing arteries during a caesarean section to stop bleeding. It consists of a metal probe, held by the obstetrician, and an earthing plate that is stuck onto the patient's thigh. The plate is connected to the machine by a wire and it has a strip onto which the wire is fixed with a lever clip. Abbas held up the fresh unused plate. "Ben, you've attached this the wrong way... again!" He scolded. "You keep doing this! Every time I relieve you, I have to switch it round." I asked: "What do you mean?" He explained that the lever clip has to be closed with the handle turned outwards. I wondered why this was such a big deal to him seeing as it didn't alter the function of the device at all. In a way it made sense because, as you can see in the illustration above, when the clip is facing inwards it leaves an air gap. This is probably why Abbas conjectured that the opposite was the right way to do it. However, the diathermy machine has a laminated instruction book attached to it with a chain which gives basic instructions for its operation. He had not read it whereas I had. The book clearly showed that, for whatever reason, the plate has to be attached to the clip with the handle inwards. You can see this in the illustration; the grey surface is actually the peel-off covering of a sticky surface which fixes it to the patient's skin. I opened the book and showed it to Abbas. HHis face fell. "No!" he said. "That's the clip turned outward!" "What are you talking about, Abbas?" I asked. "The clip is meant to turn inward which is why I did it that way; as it shows very clearly here." I pointed at the very simple and comprehensive diagram in the manual. The pointless debate went on for a few minutes. In the end Abbas physically pushed the book away and stormed out of the theatre with a scornful laugh. What had just happened was that I had just proved Abbas wrong and he couldn't admit it; he refused to back down even in the face of obvious facts. Sadly, this is all too common in human nature. Ego is an essential part of our personality. Without it we self-annihilate and become zombies, soulless objects. Everybody needs an ego; but for some people they do not so much have an ego as their ego has them. This flaw is definitely not reserved for HP's; but as a new HP, please do not assume your fellow porters will be immune to egocentrism. Watch out for the signs; and refusing to change one's position when proved wrong beyond all doubt is one of the worst. I lost contact with Abbas when I left Delivery Suite in 1999; shortly afterwards he retired. Then, just a few months ago, I bumped into a midwife who had been in DS when we had, and she informed me that Abbas was living in a care home for the elderly just a mile from where I live. He is very old now, but still alive. I considered going there to visit him, and I'm still doing so...
See here for background: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2022/02/lets-just-help-each-other-out.html.