The Observer (Kampala)
Irene Kiiza
4 November 2009
Kampala — When the doctor announces that a patient is to be kept in the acute healthcare unit, relatives and friends begin panicking and fearing for the worst.
Some people even leave the hospital in frustration to go and prepare for a funeral, because to them no person can come out of the acute care unit alive. Acute care is the treatment given to a person whom the medical personnel consider to be in an overtly sensitive state and who needs 24-hour surveillance.
So before the doctors declare the person dead, do not imagine that because they are being kept in that unit, then they are as good as dead.
Although to a layman the patient may look like or actually be in a scary state, it helps to trust the medical personnel and not lose hope. Some patients spend a few hours in this tertiary unit, but some may be kept there for days, weeks or even months. The aim is to stabilise the patient until they can be discharged from hospital or transferred to the ward where they can receive more care.
Traditionally, the moment we learn that someone we know is not well, the impulsive decision is to rush to wherever they may be, "just to see them." But when in the acute care unit, medical personnel usually strongly advise against many visitors. Many times the patient is either too stressed with pain or is even unconscious.
"Besides, the visitors could give the patient more infections, or stress them further," says Dr. Joyce Bugonzi of Mulago Hospital.
Whatever your reasons, if the patient has been secluded, give them a chance to receive the much needed medical attention in peace.
According to Bugonzi, if a patient is placed in the unit, their relatives and friends should know that it is for the person's own good. "Patients in the acute unit have immediate access to hospital equipment, like scans and x-rays and they are surrounded with medical personnel all the time. So I do not see any reason why anyone should be worried if their patient is in the unit," she says.
Hadijah Naikoba, a retired nurse that has worked in many public hospitals before, says it was such a challenge dealing with relatives of extremely ill patients. "In Mulago, sometimes patients' relatives camped outside the emergency unit, for days and no one could convince them to leave," she says.
Naikoba adds that although one or two people may stick around, it is advisable that relatives drop in once in a while and stay away. "They can pray for their patient from their homes, after all they cannot do anything much in that state," she says.
It may be true that many people do not survive the acute care unit, but think about the big number that does not even reach hospital.
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