Comments on: Hospitals Scare Me

By: Elle

Elle — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:55:00 +0000

It is truly a sin and a shame that health care must bow to the legal system before ministration to the sick. I am constantly amazed and frightened by the lack of vocation on the part of so many of our medical providers, from doctors who wouldn’t know their patients if they fell on them in the street, to hospital personnel who either are too blase or overworked to provide anything past basic care, and make mistakes in care because of high stress and overwhelming procedural and policy constraints. Everybody needs a law and a medical degree these days, it seems. I’ve recently had several family members in need of hospital care, and the pushing and pulling we as a family had to do to get our ailing relative’s needs met was appalling.

I hope your mother recuperates fully and feels better soon.

By: Beekers

Beekers — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:42:55 +0000

Pilot: I can understand your advocation on the part of your wife’s profession.

By: pilotg2

pilotg2 — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 03:45:31 +0000

While it does suck about the treatment your mother got and I certainly hope she recovers quickly, I couldn’t help but take a little offense. My wife is a nurse so I get to here that side of things fairly regularly. While it is never acceptable to leave someone in pain, a nurse is bound legally to not administer any medications not prescribed. Orders in a hospital do not automatically transfer with the patient. But the fact that she was not in the pharmacy’s system is not acceptable at all. As for the ice chips, you may have just caught her at a bad time. I know my wife would have made an attempt to get some. It would have been a different story had you asked for some yourself (one of her pet peeves is having a family member treat her like she is their personal assistant and can get them coffee, she has no problem doing for the patient, but a big problem for for doing for the patients family). Of course there are nurses that don’t care. I here about them as well. Sitting in the staff lounge only seeing patients to pass meds. I would also be interested in hearing whether the nurse was doing primary care (no tech or other staff helping) and how many other patients she did have. Her reaction and responses may have seemed cold, but you have to realize that she has multiple patients and multiple family members on top of that all demanding her attention and expecting their family member to be at the top of the list (unless you are a big donor to the hospital , a possible big donor, or a celebrity don’t count on it). This may seem like I am getting on to, and I apologize if that is the case. But you were in a stressful situation, your mother was in pain, and the nurse did not exactly help the situation and tempers easily flare and feelings get stomped on very easily in such situations.

As far as taking so long to get the pain meds, I know from the stories I hear that both the doctors and the pharmacy move at their own pace and the nurse can’t do anything but wait. It sucks and the easiest target is usually the nurse or the tech since you actually see them.

And some hospitals have what they call a patient advocate. Their job is to provide the patient and family with as much information as possible and to make sure they get all treatments.

By: Beekers

Beekers — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 02:33:32 +0000

Thank you all for your kind wishes of a swift recovery for my mom. I am happy to say she is driving me nutty, which has to mean she is on her way to recovery!

By: haleyhughes

haleyhughes — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:56:36 +0000

Very scary. I hope your mother is feeling better soon.

I totally agree that everyone in a hospital needs someone there to be an advocate for them. Even when the care is good, the nurses are often too busy to see to the little details that can make a stay more comfortable.

By: Alan

Alan — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:23:00 +0000

yikes. that sounds like malpractice to me. If it were my mother I would be suing them big time.

By: glitchline

glitchline — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:44:51 +0000

Hospital scares me too. Thank God that you were there with your mom. I hate those kind of nurses, I experienced the same thing when my dad got hospitalized. Although, I didn’t came to a point to report the nurse but I scolded her and threaten that she will get fired. Sometimes, nurses forgot the reason why patients needs nurses.
Hoping for your mom’s recovery.

By: Jillian

Jillian — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 06:50:27 +0000

This sounds all too familiar. When my mom was in the hospital, they did the same thing. Only they weren’t swamped, they just weren’t answering the paging system.

I understand it sucks to have to do a double shift, but you still have a job to do… people’s lives are on the line.

I hope Mom recovers well and thank God you were there for her thought it’s sad you had to resort to all of that.

By: Monique

Monique — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 05:34:40 +0000

I’m so absent minded sometimes… I wanted to say that I hope your mother recovers soon, but for some reason I hit the submit button before I thought about it… and then as I was sitting here watching TV it dawned on me that I hadn’t said it. Sooooo, again, I hope your mother starts to feel better soon

{{{{{hug}}}}}

By: Monique

Monique — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 03:46:09 +0000

I don’t like hospitals either… I won’t even get started on the horrific treatment my niece got during her two week stay. I just hope and pray I never have to stay in one for more than a few hours. But even that freaks me out.

By: fragileheart

fragileheart — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:31:29 +0000

You know… it really is a sad thing. Having an ‘old’ or a more ‘traditional’ way of thinking, I think of a hospital and THE place to go to get taken care of. But it’s been a long time since that’s been true. I’m glad you were able to get her some help. But I’m sorry you had to be the type of person that knows to stand up for herself just to get it. I do hope she recovers quickly so you can just get her out of there. You’re both in my prayers Beekers