Internship part 2

I've been meaning to tell you about the other day that I spent in surgery - the day when I learnt a LOT of new cursewords. The day, when a surgery table crashed with a pregnant woman on it and an old lady (already in spinal anesthesia thus conscious but benumbed) had to wait hours for her surgery because the professor couldn't find his instruments. Oh yes, it was also the day when a woman getting a cesarean (C-section, German: Kaiserschnitt) had her bladder, well, "drilled" (they accidentally cut the bladder instead of the uterus). Oh yea, that day was quite interesting. But if I told you more about it, you might just never step foot in a hospital again - trust me, these things don't happen exclusively in Italy.

So instead I will tell you about today: the day when I learnt a new receipe for lasagna with squash and mushrooms. Food is one of the major concerns of every Italian, if not THE major concern. Thus it happened this morning that two doctors, while carrying on a quite complicated examination (during which the patient was conscious and suffering from pain), started chatting about the receipe mentioned above. A pity I don't have a video of that, but imagine it like this:

Doctor 1: "Soo... what did you have for dinner yesterday?" (Typical beginning of a conversation in Italy, by the way)
Doctor 2: "Oh, I tried this new receipe - lasagna with squash and mushrooms."
D1: "Without tomatoes?"
D2: "Yes."
D1: "But how can you make lasagna without tomatoes?"
Patient: "Oouuuuuch!"
D2: "Well, it's a very good the receipe... even without tomatoes. You should try."
Assistant: "Do you put bechamel sauce in it?"
D2: "No, I don't like bechamel sauce."
Patient: "Ouch, ouch, ouch."
Professor (comes in): "So what do you use as a liquid? You need some liquid to make lasagna."
Patient: "Is my tumor benign?"
D2: "The juice of the squad and mushrooms and some cream or milk, as you like."

and so on...


Another major concern of Italians is their cell phone. Everyone has at least three ;-) and keeps using and playing around with them all the time. In Germany, cell phones are forbidden in hospitals. In Italy, they probably don't let you enter without. At least so it seems... everyone, no matter if doctor, nurse or patient is constantly texting or calling people or they even surf the internet! Openly, without going in a separate room, in presence of their boss or a patient. All that during working hours, of course. Today one of the nurses was even taking pictures of her colleagues with her new iphone while an examination (ultrasound of a pregnant woman) was carried on. Now imagine you're the pregnant woman and someone is taking pics of the people examining you!!!

Another thing I've noticed (but if you're not a medically inclined person you might not find it exceptional): In Germany, every 2 metres there's disinfectant, and you use it... a million times a day. After every little move you make, you have to disinfect your hands. Here, I haven't seen any disinfectant. Nowhere. Nowhere, nowhere, nowhere.
I asked for it yesterday, and was shown where I could find a sink to wash my hands (there was soap, at least), but no disinfectant - and we all know washing your hands is not the same as disinfecting them. Even in surgery they don't have disinfectant (liquid), just disinfecting soap.

Everyone, keep praying that you and I will never get hospitalised in bella Italia.