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Good care, but embarassed by ECG

Posted By over254

"Good care, but embarassed by ECG"

About: University Hospital Ayr / Trauma & orthopaedics

(as the patient),

I had to have an operation on my foot. Had all the pre-op checks, but because I said I had been experiencing some chest pain, my op was postponed pending further tests.

I attended different Drs and specialists, nursing and care staff, and found everyone very courteous and helpful.

Only thing I would like to point out, would be to be asked if I minded an ECG being carried out by a "boy" (so he seemed to me!). I didn't like to say to him that I would've preferred a female, but I was very embarrassed. Next time, I requested to have anything like that carried out by a female, which seemed to be no problem. I was told then it was my right to to have a female, but I feel I shouldn't have had to ask for that. I should have been asked first if I minded, as it's stressful and embarrassing enough having to strip off.

Anyway, hats off to all the staff I came into contact with. I'm now recovering from my op.

Many thanks.

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Responses

Response from NHS Ayrshire and Arran 11 years ago
NHS Ayrshire and Arran

Submitted on 07/09/2012 at 09:08
Published on Care Opinion at 09:53

Dear over254

I am so sorry to hear you found your E.C.G. to be an embarrassing and stressful process. However, we are so pleased that you have let us know about it.

We try extremely hard to avoid embarrassment for our patients and train all our staff (male and female) to look for signs of people feeling uncomfortable so that they can help to minimise this. We also have some poster information in the department to let patients know that they can and should speak to us about what would make them feel more comfortable, though we can only assume from your feedback that this is not as visible as we hoped it was for our patients.

I am so sorry that you felt you couldn’t comment at the time of your E.C.G. as we would have done everything we could to make that a better experience for you. We have now reminded our staff to be as aware as possible of any signs that people are feeling uncomfortable.

Thank you again for your kind comments as well as your helpful feedback.

Best wishes

Fiona McMillan

Deputy Head of Clinical Physiology

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