Several days ago I was listening to a doctor on the Womens Health Unit recounting stories she was told by another doctor in her practice. It struck me then how horribly the nursing shortage, and perhaps the physician shortage as well, has impacted patient care.
The doctor in question was from South Africa where he worked in womens health. Following the delivery of her baby, a woman is expected to get out of the bed and change her own sheets. She must also clean up the area including disposal of her own placenta in an appropriate container, located apparently "down the hall". She then goes to the postpartum area and as soon as her new born learns to latch to her breast she is sent home.
Now I will admit that I am uneducated as to normal patient care in Africa, but I am well aware that their nursing shortage is far more severe than that of North America.
At present I just have no comment to this fact but find my mouth still hangs open in disbelief and disgust.
