There are other minor incidences which I'm going to ignore, but let me just zoom in the the shocking part: When the doctor was taking my temperature using the ear thermometer on my right ear, the thermometer reads 36.6. I insisted that I had a fever - sometimes listening to the body is the best gauge. I felt really bad. The temperature I took this morning reads 38.1.
The doctor took the temperature again on my left ear - and it was 37.4. And she just continues to say that , oh, slight fever. A difference of 0.8 deg celsius is a huge difference! and doesn't it occur to the doctor that the there could be something WRONG with the measurements - 2 measurements taken seconds apart has such a huge difference and no further actions were taken. With a temperature gradient of 0.8 deg between my head! I'm very concern. There is either something wrong with me, the ear thermometer, or the doctor.
When you google 'ear thermometer inaccurate' there are lists of sites. One first one out is :
http://www.mdsr.ecri.org/summary/detail.aspx?doc_id=8302
According to this website the ear thermometer is generally accurate, but is it the temperature of the ear that varies quite a bit. This bring me to my 2nd point : the air con was so cold I was shivering outside while waiting for the doctor. The temperature of my ear could be affect by the air con better suited for penguin.
Anyway, when I went back home ( I actually live a small road across the polyclinic) after some time. ' after some time' needless to say is due to the waiting time to get medicine. I check my temperature again and it was 37.7. When I took the paracetamol , what else can it be? the pharmacist assistant looked at the medicine... it was written 1 tablet 3 times a day. She actually said 1 or 2 tablet. That is just so clear.
Being the obedient me, I took 1 tablet. But the fever did not subside after on hour. So I took the liberty to take two instead - better. But the temperature rises when the drug wears out.
Another thing, I used a really old card. The assistant ask me to inform the doctor to transfer my drug allergy to my new card. The doctor says that is not the problem, but the drug allergy has been captured by computer system. When I went to get the medicine, the pharmacist assistant asked me for any drug allergy?!?! Is she confirming or just blur?!?!
When I'm writing this, the temperature is not getting any better. Could it be due to some subconscious stress which I colleague was suggesting?!?! maybe.
I'm hoping very hard not to see a doctor again, and of course, this is inevitable. But you can be sure that polyclinic would not be my first choice if I can help it. The word national health care or public health care has earned itself a bad name in many countries. On one hand, I appreciate the upgraded systems and such. I was initially quite impress with the on-line registration, computerised workflow of the medication and such. But I must add that the system is as good as the people who runs it. Without dedicated and well trained people, systems are just digital 1s and 0s, and flow charts and targets ... The people in the registration ( regardless of the fancy, nice sounding name) was actually talking about having allocated the patients to a room that has not existed! Is she new?
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