"Ultrasound experience"

I had an abdominal ultrasound due to severe pain abdominal pain.

A student clinician, called myself and my spouse in, they introduced themselves, explained that they were a student and asked if it was okay for them to ultrasound me. I consented. 

In the room the student pointed out their supervisor, who was on a computer with their back turned to the room. They made no effort to introduce themselves, or ask me any questions. Throughout, the Supervisor made no attempt to monitor or check on the ultrasound progress, even when I was vocally expressing my pain. The student was being as gentle as they could and I was still in significant pain.

The student was half way through and the supervisor said they were going out and left, again they did not ask the student if they were okay or check on the progression of the ultrasound. 

The student finished as much as they could, explaining that bloating in my abdomen was making the process challenging, warned me that the supervisor would push harder into my abdomen, then went to find their supervisor.

The supervisor came back, and still did not introduce themselves or explain what was going on or what they were going to do. Again they did not check in with me. They put the bed up very high and had me roll from side to side, I felt like I would have fallen off had it not been for my partner bracing me.

When the supervisor grabbed the ultrasound bottle and turned it upside down to shake it out, it seemed to me like they were partially aiming for my face, because I flinched from how close the nozzle seemed, they saw me flinch and made a comment about me being scared or afraid or flinching. When they squeezed the nozzle the tail end of the gel ended up in my armpit trailing towards my face.

The first time they put the probe down on my abdomen and pushed down, I was surprised at the force and pain, I let out an involuntary yelp, the supervisor, in response to this sternly said don’t talk, don’t make any noise and don’t move. Then they proceeded with the ultrasound.

The supervisor pressed very hard, I believe beyond what was reasonable. I understand some amount of pressure is required, I have has this ultrasound before in Busselton, but this was relentless, at one point over my rib, the force they used made me genuinely fear that they were going to crack it.

I’m writing this about 2 hours afterwards and my right side abdomen and over my ribs I can still feel where the probe was placed and pressed into me.

On top of the rough and callous approach to my pain, they kept asking me to take deep breaths and hold it, several times I started getting black spots in my vision. The supervisor was essentially forcing me to hold my breath beyond my capacity. At one point they got me to sit up and face them. They had me hold my breath for what felt like over a minute, I was shaking in pain and started to feel like my vision was closing in. My partner had to brace me from behind to stop me from fainting or falling off the bed.

The supervisor was facing me and was looking at me while I was in so much pain my body was either frozen with terror or shaking and limp close to passing out.

They had me exhale and then immediatly hold my breath again and it was repeated.

Any time I flinched from pain or unintentionally made a noise they would respond by pressed the probe in with more force.

I want to make something very clear here , the student did nothing wrong at all. They were kind, explained what they were doing and empathetic of the pain I was in, when the supervisor came into the room it felt like myself, my partner, and the student had to just let the supervisor do what damage they wanted.

My partner saw the student seemingly looking concerned or worried and stood back from the supervisor clearly afraid. When we were alone with the student, they were bubbly and kind and the change in their behaviour is concerning to me, no student should be that afraid of someone responsible for their training. Based on how I was treated, I cannot imagine what further hostile work environment they would be subjected too if they told the supervisor to stop.

I believe the student clearly loves their job and they spoke of it with passion, and whatever you decide to do after this, they deserve to not be seemingly afraid of their supervisor, they should not ever be placed in the position where they were forced to watch a patient in pain suffer more. After the ultrasound was completed, I wanted to just cry, and more importantly I needed to leave apex, the student came after us and I believe they couldn’t say it out loud but they seemed worried about me, and their whole affect was making it clear to me that they were just as much a victim as I was.

When I walked out of that room, into the hallway, I felt in my mind that I had just been assaulted. The supervisor did not once ask for consent to touch me in anyway, I was not allowed to ask to pause or take a break, and I was not allowed to express the fact that I was in severe pain.

It was playing on a loop in my head until I got back to the day procedure unit where I then broke down crying