Later I will discuss about the social and cultural factors of such change in attitude. To begin with, I would like to talk about public response towards hospital regulations. Different patients are separated into different common rooms, for example, ear, nose and throat, neurosurgery, radiology and imaging, etc. In the common room, patients being separated by curtain are provided a bed. Television is set up for entertainment. Patients can read magazine and smartened to kill time as well. There are nurses who are responsible for serving meals and taking care of patients.
Friends and relatives are not allowed to come in and out of the room freely, but can only visit within the visit hours, which is from noon to up. M. In order to prevent unnecessary disruption to other patients each time only two visitors is allowed. Patients are by their gender as well. When doctor was checking on female patient, a nurse was present. In my observation, people were generally willing to comply with the visiting regulation. However, some elderly often requested to leave hospital early and go home. They insisted that they are recovered and there is no need to stay there.
This shows that nowadays hospital is no longer regarded as a ‘secret and mysterious place,’ people are more comfortable about receiving treatment at hospital due to comprehensive care and facilities. Nonetheless, some elderly still cannot adapt to this, as they prefer to stay home with family. Furthermore, I am going to focus on people’s awareness towards public hygiene in hospital. Sterilizer were installed almost everywhere in hospital such as the entrance, washing room, corridor, etc. However, both visitors and patients, under by observation, seldom utilize the machine.
Moreover, in washing room, people tended to wash hands with water only but not using soap, and they did not follow the guideline of how to wash hands, which was posted on the wall. Only a few people sterilized their hand after visiting hospital, and this might lead to the spread of transmitting disease to the community. Apart from washing hands, people were not alert about the importance of wearing mask. Some visitors did not wear mask until being reminded by the nurse, but after entering the room, they put off the mask when talking.
Some patients even did not use hand to cover their nose and mouth hen coughing and sneezing, which was very unhygienic. This shows that both visitors and patients’ awareness towards public hygiene were low although many promotion and education about public health are carried out. In my opinion, people nowadays are well educated about the importance of personal and public hygiene in preventing disease because, but they cannot put it into practice because some habits are difficult to change. In addition, patient’s gratitude towards doctors and nurses also reflect people’s positive attitude towards Western medicine.
Doctors and nurses are highly respected by patients. In the hospital there were many commemorative flag sent by recovered patient to show their appreciation towards the doctors and nurse in treating them. This shows that patients pay high respect to medical personal. Moreover, patients were generally willing to follow the instructions and order of medical personal. For example, they took pills on time and had meal provided by the nurses regularly. Patients and their relatives often asked suggestions and seek help from doctors regarding health problem.
This might because the patients were confident that the doctors could successfully treat them. The reputation of medical personal is very high that they can gain trust and respect from public. From the above-mentioned observation, it is believed that the majority of people hold a positive attitude towards Western medicine and they are willing to be treated by Western medicine. However, even though the importance of personal hygiene in emphasized nowadays, it is still very difficult for the public to change their habits. M going to discuss about the reasons behind this phenomenon. First, the increase in education level among public leads to a better understanding f Western medicine and Western hospitals. Nowadays, twelve-year free and compulsory education is provided to general public. At school, students will learn about the basic knowledge about disease and the importance of keeping personal hygiene. At society, the government promotes the importance of public by producing commercial and poster. People hence develop a more rational and scientific understanding towards Western medicine.
Compare with the past when people were innocent due to a lack of education and communication barrier, they neither knew the principle of Western medicine nor the reason of doctor adopting such treatments, it is not difficult to understand why people back held a suspicious and hostile attitude towards Western medicine. For instance, A Brilliant Beginning written by Ala She describes the innocent of people in early 20th century. A lady was no used to the western style medical treatment, as she was not allowed to eat whenever and whatever she wanted. This shows that the little knowledge of Western medicine led to misunderstanding among public.
However, nowadays since people’s education level is high, their understanding awards Western medicine increases, and hence is more willing to comply with the order of doctor. However, given the improve in public understanding towards Western medicine and public health, some elderly still prefer staying at home instead of in hospital, also people are not used to sterilizing and wearing mask. These can be explain by the difference in Western and Chinese culture. Chinese culture puts emphasize on “family” in which all family members live together, unlike Western culture which emphasize on individual value.
In Chinese society, elderly should be taken care by housewife at home with the company of other family members. Even in modern society, people still have such perception, so that elderly are not used to stay at hospital and be separated from their families. Furthermore, in light of the problem of Chinese people not wearing mask and sterilizing hands, that is because Chinese tradition values on ‘sharing. Chinese people like bustling with noise and excitement. Sharing is promoted in a mass community. For example, Chinese people eat in a round table and share the dishes together whereas Westerner use square table and each have heir own dish.
Therefore, Chinese are not adept to using serving chopsticks and wearing mask as such actions are regarded as overcautious and reserved. To summarize, after my visit to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, I discovered that people nowadays are more open and confident about Western medicine due to the increase in public education. However, due to the cultural difference between Western and Chinese society, some habits of Chinese are difficult to change. In order to prevent disease from spreading, we should be more alert about out personal hygiene.
