I’m Not Wearing Any Underwear!

The medical & health profession is seen in most cases as being very clinical – probably due to the fact that most of our work occurs within clinics. Whilst this is the case when you are in the people business there are always funny situations you get caught in seemingly on a daily basis. The premises that made scrubs such a popular television show in the naughties was a satirisation of life within a hospital setting whilst still treating the content with serious reverence when appropriate. If you are a fan of JD and his multitude of awkward situations then you will appreciate the following story.

Fresh-Meat

My first job out of university was in a laid back seaside town on the Northern NSW coast in Australia. Yamba was supposed to only be my home for 12 months but ended up stealing my heart enough to lead me spending 2 stints and 6 years surfing, hitting up the bowlo & being funky. Now being on the coast there was a pocket of the community that was charmingly alternative which was very different to what I experienced growing up in Darwin (It’s alternative in a completely different way). So treating as a new practitioner you had to be wary of the words you used in addressing clients.

Slip of the Tongue

This was no more evident than in my first week of clinical practice. Here I was trying to save the world one back at a time so I was being very thorough with every person I met. Early one morning I had a lovely bohemian lady come and see me in a flowing sundress.

Setting the Scene

After discussing within the subjective examination what she was seeing me for I was ready to get down to discovering a diagnosis to give her some relief. I asked her that while I left the room to take off her dress however she could leave on her underwear on so that we could assess her movements. Thinking nothing more of it I stepped outside the room and prepared my thoughts “I’m thinking that she may have a facet joint impingement so lets look at her quadrant test”. She sung out – “Ready” & in I went to face the music.

Red Faces

Looking back on my words and knowing the lady well now I see where it all went wrong but at the time all I could think when walking in was “They don’t teach us about this at uni”. Here she was standing in her undergarments as I asked however I didn’t think that the only thing underneath would be a very brief pair of knickers. Being speechless and no doubt going slightly red (which is not something I was used to) she stepped in with kind words…”Don’t worry mate it’s nothing you haven’t seen before”. True I suppose but wasn’t really conducive to effective treatment at that time. I quickly told her to get a towel and over herself up and ran out of the room like a rat up a drain pipe. Looking back now it probably wasn’t the smoothest transition out of the room but as a 21 year old practitioner I had no prior experience to draw on. All wasn’t lost though as she thought it was a laugh and I’ll always be appreciative of her assistance in making a molehill of what I thought was Mount Fuji.

Life’s Too Short For Mediocre Underwear

I’d love to say that was my only Turk moment over the past 8 years in practice but that would be far from the truth. What I’ve learnt over time though is the calmer you can be when you encounter them and if you can see the lighter side it makes the outcome much less drama filled & leads to future scrub-like stories. Since that moment though I have always offered a towel or asked if the client is wearing underwear before examining – it saves having to explain to your receptionist awkward facial expressions!

Help From The Bench

Shout out today to Cloud9Jewels for the picture of the beautiful sundress in the column.Check out their shop on Etsy but remember underwear is a necessity.