Nurses work where patients don't... leave the hospital.

"Patient waste sticks to the body and wears it too"

At 10 a.m. on a day in early May, like any other normal day, nurse Tran Thi Hien, Department of Treatment, Care and Rehabilitation, Chi Linh Hospital, and her colleagues hurriedly went to each room to feed the patients lunch.

The hospital has 86 patients being treated, of which more than 70% are elderly, have blurred vision, have amputated arms, or have partially or completely amputated legs... so the nurses here must provide comprehensive care.

After feeding this patient, Ms. Hien and her colleagues quickly went to the next room to feed porridge and milk to another patient. After the patient finished eating, the nurses wiped their faces and gently encouraged them to take a nap.

Ms. Hien said that compared to colleagues at other facilities, the work of nurses at Leprosy Hospital is very different. Normally, in other hospitals, nurses will "end their role" when patients are discharged. But here, almost all patients who come here will never be discharged. They almost have no relatives, no visitors. Most of the patients are elderly, severely disabled, of which about 20 people are incontinent, have mental health issues, and sometimes even wet their beds and clothes.

- Does patient waste ever stick to your clothes? - I asked.

- That happens often - Ms. Hien replied.

- You must feel uncomfortable?

- No. We are used to it, and the patients do not want it. You may not believe me, but in more than 20 years of working with the patients here, I have never been resentful, blamed or shown any discomfort because of this. I still feel sorry for them because of the great physical and mental losses.

Head of the Department of Treatment, Care and Rehabilitation of Phong Chi Linh Hospital, Bui Thanh Son, said that some nurses used to work here but moved elsewhere because they could not stand the pressure and hardship. Those who stayed, in addition to their responsibility for their work, were also compassionate. "Every day from morning to night, the nurses take turns staying with the patients 24/7, monitoring their health, bathing, cooking, talking to them... They take care of the patients more than they take care of their own family members," Son shared.

Some other nurses at the Leprosy Hospital shared that there were times when they were tired and wondered why they didn’t switch to a simpler job. But in the end, they couldn’t do it because if everyone was afraid of hardship and suffering, who would take care of these leprosy patients who had no place to rely on? Their love for the profession and compassion for those in difficult and unfortunate situations helped them overcome their petty personal thoughts.

"You eat and study by yourself so that I can go on duty."

Phong Chi Linh Hospital currently has a rather thin nursing force of only 12 people. In fact, only 8 nurses directly participate in patient care, the rest participate in other tasks assigned by the unit.

Taking care of an elderly, sick person is already hard work. In this hospital, each nurse has to take care of nearly 11 patients at a time. The work is hard and stressful, so it is understandable that they have very little time to take care of their families.

Nurse Nguyen Thi Kieu Oanh, who has 21 years of caring for patients at Phong Chi Linh Hospital, confided: "My husband is a professional soldier, my eldest child is in college, so at home there is only me and my youngest child who is in middle school. Because of my busy work schedule, I have little time to take care of my children. My children eat and study by themselves at home so that their mother can go on duty. The good thing is that the children love their mother, they are all well-behaved and study well."

Nurses at Phong Chi Linh Hospital said that in addition to the prescribed salary, they have almost no additional income, except for the daily allowance of 50,000 VND.

Like Ms. Hien and Ms. Oanh, their total monthly income is only over 7 million VND. This amount of money must be spent sparingly to cover living expenses, but in return, they all receive sharing and sympathy from their families and relatives. This is the motivation for nurses in places where patients are not discharged from the hospital to continue to overcome difficulties and strive to contribute to society.