Yes, I really have been working today; working on my dissertation. I think I’ve got some shiny new people reading this, so I’ll quickly explain my dissertation topic; it’s basically on whether gay / lesbian individuals experience crap healthcare. It’s something that’s bothered me ever since – well, an experience with my ex, Ais, in a hospital that shall remain nameless. Anyway; when they finally gave me the chance to study something I’m actually interested in… well, I pounced on the chance. Frustratingly it’s a literature review – not a piece of novel research, but at least it’s into something I really care about.
It’s been shockingly hard, actually. There’s a fair amount of research into Nurses / Medical staffs attitudes (one study I’ve barely touched, but scan read, suggests as many as 36% of nurses would not nurse gay and lesbian individuals if they had the choice(!)); and Gay and Lesbian healthcare professionals experiences inside the healthcare profession; but there’s very little on patient’s experience – as I’ve begun to discover.
It’s been a real struggle finding papers. In fact, 3 months in I’m still not really happy with the papers for my literature review. But some of the papers are incredibly distressing to read; incidents described verging on assault; certainly lack of care being commonplace. Huge, staggering percentages of individuals failing to attend for further healthcare because of the appauling interactions they’ve had. It’s really quite shocking. Even knowing what I did, and knowing my experiences, and knowing what the abstracts said about the papers – I still… didn’t quite expect the depths to which “health care professionals” have sunk in their failure to provide care.
I have to kind of get this out of me, because I’ve got to be quite impartial – and I do find myself getting annoyed at the weaker papers because, well, their research might indicate the same things as the better papers; but it’s meaningless if you can’t discern bias or whether the sample’s valid, or the questions leading.
At any rate, it’s interesting still – if scary and frustrating and upsetting.
I’ve summarised my reviews for 2 papers today; and sorted a bit through the ‘mound’ of paperwork. Yesterday and the day before I fiddled, like you might with a scab, at the Maternity EU pack. It’s frustratingly far from finished.
But overall, I’ve been a bit more productive over the last couple of days.
In other news, our brand-spanking-new-6 months ago washing machine has packed up and died. It now flashes and blinks an array of little tiny LEDs – which translates in the user manual as “Service required – an abnormality has developed”. I fear that our washing machine may have mutated. Of course, being saturday I can’t ring our letting agents – and of course, I discovered it was faulty by (our survey said) putting my clothes in it to wash. They came out damp and smelling of stale water; so… I had to hand wash the fracking things. One of my uniforms was in there, which makes it particularly urgent. Of course, they’re now drip-drying in my shower; a fan-heater (space heater, for the americans out there. Incidentally, in the UK this is a space heater) is running pointed into the teeny tiny bathroom so my room now smells remenicent of those drying rooms you get in Youth Hostels… and my guitar? That’s stored outside my bedroom for the time being – I don’t imagine a huge change in humidity ‘d be very good for it, not really.
So how’s things with everyone else this fine day?
