No Time | Grey's Anatomy // Book 1 // COMPLETED |

21 | R-O-C

"Uh, reaction, observation, communication . . ." Bailey started listing off the items she had written down on the board. With the rest of the residents and interns, I sat quietly, listening to her speak and trying not to doze off from boredom. For whatever reason, we were being forced to take a mandatory sensitivity class and Bailey had been forced to teach it. No one involved with thrilled, to say the least. "Any questions so far?" Bailey asked, her face plastered with annoyance already.

Quite a few of the interns and Mercy Westers rose their hands. Jackson, who was sitting on a desk beside me, threw his hand into the air forcefully. Bailey groaned at the sight of the room full of raised hands, already knowing what most of the questions were without even having to ask. "We are doing this because Chief Shepherd suggests we brush up on our patient sensitivity skills, that's why," Bailey said and all of the hands lowered. "And it just so happens, this morning was a very good time, besides, half of you were raised by wolves."

Turning back to the whiteboard, Bailey grabbed for her marker and began to write. "Reaction." she sounded out the word as she wrote it. "Keep your face impassive. Whether prompted by a patient's appearance or lab results, facial expressions of surprise, concern, disgust, etcetera can be counterproductive. Uh, jokes. Don't make jokes about patients, not in front of them, not even in private."

"Well . . ." Cristina started to say but stopped herself.

Bailey raised her eyebrows. "Yang?"

"What if the joke is really funny?" Cristina asked.

"It's not." Bailey gave her a disapproving look as a few of us laughed. "Neither was that one. Moving on."

Everyone quieted down as Bailey flipped through her notes. When she found what she was looking for, she cleared her throat and continued. "Observation. Okay, use reflective listening, repeat the patients feeling back to them." she then gave an example. "Um, I hear that you're concerned about the surgery. Let me explain the risks." 

As Bailey turned back around to the whiteboard, Alex leaned towards the group, a cheeky grin on his face. "I see you like vegetables. After surgery, you might become one."

Everyone started to laugh, but thankfully, Bailey hadn't heard the joke. "Communication." Bailey tried to ignore us the laughter. "Uh, don't use jargon. Use language that the patient can understand. Be creative in using metaphors."

"Oh, I'm terrible with metaphors." Charles, one the Mercy's Westers, said. "I can never come up with 'em."

"Why?" Cristina asked. "'Cause you're dumb as a box of hammers?"

Charles nodded. "You see, that's a good one. You're an ass, but that was a good one."

"Be clear and comprehensive." Bailey kept rushing through the presentation. "Explain all risk and probable outcomes, leaving nothing out."

Reed raised her hand. "Adamson?" Bailey called on her. 

"Why are you going so fast?" Reed asked.

"It just so happens that we have an emergent patient arriving who will need a little extra sensitivity," Bailey told us before wrapping up the refresher class. "So remember to employ your R-O-C, and you will, hmm, rock your patient's world."

Jackson chuckled at the cheesy joke. "Wow, comedy central." I crossed my arms over my chest and snorted.

"Okay, that's enough of that." Bailey was obviously ready to get on with the actual case. "Follow me to the pit. HUSTLE!"

Grabbing my white coat off of the back of my seat, I followed Bailey and the herd of eager interns and residents through the halls and down to the emergency room. Once we arrived at the ambulance bay, dawning our trauma gowns and gloves, we waited for our 'emergent patient' to arrive. Soon enough, the all too familiar sound of sirens could be heard. As expected, an ambulance pulled in seconds later, but what wasn't expected, however, was the large truck that followed it.

"All right, people, remember what you've been taught. Use it throughout the day. There'll be consequences if you don't." Bailey reminded us as the large truck positioned itself so the back doors were facing the ER doors. Once we could see the truck better, we noticed that there were people in the back. 

"What the hell is that?" Alex asked.

Just then, a group of firefighters, followed by a few paramedics, rushed towards the truck. "What, did the circus come to town?" Reed questioned. 

As the back of the truck opened, we saw that there was a large bed in the back. In the bed, was a severely overweight man. "No . . . just the elephant," Jackson answered Reed's question.

Bailey, however, heard the comment. "Avery, you're off the case. Go," she told Jackson. 

"Oh, damn it." Jackson immediately regretted his choice of words. 

"Nice one." I laughed and waved as Jackson sulked off. "Have fun. I'll make sure to tell you all about it." 

"Consequences," Bailey told us, proving she was serious.

With the truck's back low enough now to get the overweight patient out, the man took one look at the emergency room doors and chuckled. "We're gonna need a bigger hospital." he was clearly comfortable with making jokes about his situation, which was either a really good thing or a really bad thing considering the training we had all just received. 

A few people chuckled lightly, unsure if they were allowed to or not, as a horde of nurses arrived with a regular-sized gurney, which they quickly realized was not going to be nearly large enough. 

This was certainly going to be an interesting case.