The Teacher and The Student

Posted on 15 Jan 2013 @ 6:29pm by Ensign Jessica Wilson M.D. & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D.

1,395 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: Sickbay, USS Galileo
Timeline: MD-1 1130

[ON]

Jessica was conflicted. She had just finished treating Lieutenant Cho and the nature of her injuries, her general demenour and her reluctance to explain adquetly what had caused the injuries had caused some degree of concern in the young doctor. It was true that they could very well be totally innocent injuries, but Jessica doubted that and that raised other, disturbing possibilities that jessica seriously hoped that she was wrong about. In any case she knew that regardless of whether she was right or wrong she had to report the matter to the CMO. The other side of that was that she was invading Cho's privacy, but unfortunatly that was something she had to do. As she made her way over to the CMO's office she was resolute in what she had to do.

She activated the chime.

Frowning over the information contained on the PADD she was reading, Pola moved a hand to rub against the tension in her forehead. There had been a handful of cases of a virus similar to a flu since the ship had left the Vega Colony. The strain in question was still mystifying them all.

As she heard the sound of a chime ring out around her room, Pola looked up at the door in relief, happy to have the opportunity of a break. Sitting back in her chair, she shoved the PADD into her desk. "Enter."

Jessica stepped inside.

"I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time," Jessica said simply.

Smiling, Pola indicated towards the chair on the opposite side of the desk. "Of course Jessica, anytime you need a moment I can find one for you. What's up? How are you settling in in sickbay?"

"I'm doing fine myself," Jessica replied with a nod. "I do however have concerns about a patient I just treated."

Tugging her drawer back open, Pola extracted a new PADD as she indicated for Jessica to continue, prepared to take notes and access the file of the patient in question.

"Lieutenant JG Cho, she came in with a number of injuries that seemed to indicate being roughly manhandled, as well as some pretty nasty looking bruises and hematomai on the knees and thighs," Jessica continued. "If it was just the injuries I wouldn't have been too concerned, but she wouldn't give me any straight answers on the causes, presented as very skittish and also complained of being unable to sleep, for which I repeated a prescription of anestazine."

"Kiri...." Frowning slightly, Pola positioned the PADD on the desk infront of her. "Kiri has a history of being very skittish around sickbay and people in general. What makes you feel in this instance that this aspect of her behaviour is a reason for concern?" Pola had heard about the injuries but wanted to segment this to talk over each aspect.

"Reluctance to talk about them then quick, convenient answers when pressed," Jessica replied. "This is just by instinct but I felt that something was the matter."

"The exhaustion is something which has been noticed before but this bruising...what indication did you see which made you feel like it had been inflicted on her rather than self inflicted through a fall or otherwise? Again, this patient has a history with trying to take her medical health into her own hands. Case study would be the situation where she felt she could live her live on ration packs she had developed for herself." Pola's voice was gentle, she was in no way challenging Jessica, she just wished to see how the intern was weighting everything up to draw the conclusions which she had.

"The bruising was substantial and deep, and the positioning all indicated that it was caused by another person pressing hard on the areas in question, bruising from a fall or a bang would have produced a much lighter bruise without the hematoma underneath," Jessica replied. "In addition there is also evidence of rough handling, I had to repair muscle and ligament damage in the shoulders and swelling in the knee areas as well as more substantial swelling. It is, technically, possible that all of this could have been self-inflicted but only by her literally, and repeatedly falling, slamming and catching herself on things, the chances of which are needless to say, not particularly high."

Nodding her head at the analysis, Pola access the most recent scans which Jessica had preformed, bringing them up on the PADD in her hands. As her eyes moved across the images and mapped the bruising and muscle strain for herself, she found herself inclined to agree with Jessica's conclusion. "Ok...well if she's refusing to answer your questions or speak with you, what do you feel the next course of action needs to be?"

"I've referred her to the counselling department, hopefully they'll be able get through her problems better than we can," Jessica replied.

Nodding her head, Pola smiled warmly. "Well it sounds like you've done everything correctly. Did her behaviour prevent you from being able to carry out the necessary treatment for her injuries, were you satisfied you did everything you could for her from a physical perspective?"

"Yes, it took some persuasion but I was able to treat the injuries," Jessica replied. "And from our perspective, yes I did everything that I could to treat the injuries as presented."

"Why do I think that I hear a but in that statement?" Pola smiled slightly as she studied the young woman seated infront of her, remember when she herself was in the same position.

"But I wish that we could have done more,"

Pola nodded her head now in an understanding, the most difficult part of the job. "Sometimes it's beyond our ability to be able to help a person more than they will let us. You helped mend her external injuries, you got the wheels turning on getting her help with the internal injuries. Maybe what she needs now more than anything is a friend, someone to show her things are still ok."

"Maybe," Jessica nodded thoughtfully.

Leaning forward, Pola crossed her arms on the desk. "Kiri is the equilivant of the worst type of patients you'll meet. Her nerves and intelligence work together to often cause her to be a risk to herself. My encounters with her have resulted in her feeling she knows better than the medical advise she's given but at the end of the day, she's a woman the same as you. She's just out of the academy, thrown in at the deep end web temporarily she became chief of science. Sometimes what these people need more is friends. People to show them that they are cared about and that its ok to open up and trust others."

"I...I understand," Jessica nodded, knowing that she herself was one of those people, altbiet not quite thrown in at the deep end, but her own shyness was pronounced, even if not presenting quite so aggressivly.

Watching the woman, Pola smiled softly as she moved her hand to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "You did well Jessica. From what you've told me, you've made all the correct judgement calls which we needed. You can be proud of what you've done here."

"Thank You Doctor," Jessica replied.

"Was there anything else? Any further questions you wanted to ask?" Pola sat back into her chair as she pulled one leg up under her body.

"Not at the moment," Jessica shook her head.

Noticing Jessica still seated there, Pola tilted her head to the side with a smile. "Well if that is all...remember we don't stand on formalities around here Jessica, you don't need to wait to be dismissed."

"Oh! Of course," Jessica nodded, jerkily standing up and heading for the door.

Smiling as she watched Jessica leave, Pola turned back to the mystery on the PADD infront of her, glad to at least have had a few minutes to concentrate on something else and manage to refresh herself. A smile lit her lips as she thought after her intern, realising that in Jessica she'd found a good woman and a very promising young Doctor.

[OFF]

Lieutenant Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Jessica Wilson M.D.
Medical Officer (Intern)
USS Galileo

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