David and Goliath

I’m sure there are a few left out there that are wondering where I am…I’ve been wondering that myself. This past trip to the US was great and I was not prepared to come back to Shanghai so soon. The expat term “re-entry depression” is very real and I’ve been struggling once again to get back into the swing of things. I thought the best way was to dive back into work and to pick up where I left off – this time with a new title and more responsibility. The three-day work week is no longer in my vocabulary, but I keep having this nagging feeling in the back of my mind – the identity crisis I have had from the beginning but in reverse. I felt so guilty for not working, but now that I am working, my guilt has transitioned back to wondering if the job and the stress that comes with the job is worth giving up my Chinese lessons, my adventures, my photography and my journals?

Damn Catholic guilt.

I think God saw my struggle and gave me a big breakthrough yesterday. So a little background…

Before I left on holiday to the US, I had filled out an incident report stating that I felt our chief OB/Gyn MD was practicing unsafely (he was using two induction medications simultaneously which in all of the research I did was contraindicated - aka - a very bad idea). I knew this was risky since I was going against the doctor’s medical judgment and experience. The short version is that after my return I started looking into what the status was of this inquiry only to find out the Chief Medical Officer originally handling the case resigned the week before I returned and no one knew what was going on. Huh? Was I going to have to start all over again or was this a sign I just needed to let it go?

In the end, IN THE NAME OF PATIENT SAFETY (wonder twin powers activate!), Patty and I decided that I needed to open my big mouth... this time all the way up to the CEO to get them to figure out what was going on. Today (Tuesday), the CEO called the MD to ask him to stop using this particular medication combination until an investigation on best practice is completed. The doctor found out that I filed the original report and confronted me. So my dream came true – our Director of OB/Gyn services told me to stop messing with him and his patients (PG version). I told him I would always speak up if I felt patient safety was compromised and that was my job as a patient advocate and a nurse. He told me to get out and then he fired Patty about an hour later. I can’t say it was an Oscar winning performance, but it’s the best I have felt in several months of working there.

After returning home I received multiple emails from the nurses (who were also crying when we left) as well as the other two OB/Gyn MDs giving me support for what I did, but the biggest surprise of all was the CEO of our company sent me a personal email apology for the doctor’s actions and that an immediate investigation would take place. Dum dum dum….. Stay tuned after this word from our sponsors…