My 34 yr old husband has been hospitalized all week with cellulitis in his left leg. Due to his type 2 diabetes and the fact that he has an artificial aortic valve his doc admitted him. The second morning he was in the hospital I mentioned to a nurse that he was not recieving his Zocor. She said she`d check on it and we never heard back. Several other times I mentioned it to various nurses with no results. The last nurse I talked to said I needed to ask the DR. I replied that I`m not here early enough to ask the Dr. She said that The patient was responsible to make sure the Dr. orders said Meds as at home. My husbands Dr went out of town with a family emergency and he had a different Dr. What if he was not able to speak to the Dr. himself? Once it is brought to the attention of the nurses that a patient is not recieving their medication shouldn`t they have called the Dr or made an effort to find out why? The attitude I got was sorry...not my problem. They also did not give him his coumadin one day until he called and told them he had not recieved it. This was 5 hours after it was due. Maybe I`m just stressed, but I`m feeling like someone, somewhere is slipping....Luckily, his Doc is back in town, the leg is better, and he comes home tommorow morning. It has been educational. I now know all about cellulitis!:)

I am so sorry you have had a less than good experience. Yes, nurses are stressed, but that is no excuse...As I remind my patients AND the care takers of myself or family members, we work for you, as do the docs. You are a consumer of our care. You have every right to ask for and receive appropriate care...Those nurses you have encountered should even be explaining what prn (or as needed) pain medications are vs those which are routinely scheduled. To not keep patient and family needs on the priority list is not good nursing care. If we don't have the answers right then and there, it is our responsibility and the nice thing to do, to follow up in an attempt to deliver our best care. Be strong, and be vigilant. Make a stink if these things keep occurring. Ask to see the nurse manager of the unit if these things keep happening or a nurse is blatantly ignoring you. They pay attention to these sorts of things. Send a follow up letter and recognize the nurses who DO try to help you...Still can't get satisfaction? Write to the director, or call the director of patient services and anyone else you deem might "listen". Be visable and let them know that you expect quality and appropriate care for both your husband and your family...Take care and good luck to you...Hang in there! As far as the coumadin goes, have your husband ask for his daily PT and once they know you both are interested ( he has to ask due to privacy rules), they will let the doctor know you all want to be very involved in the care. If there is a covering doctor, big deal, he or she also works for you, and you let the nursing staff know when you aren't happy and insist that they page him or her so you can speak with him or her ( as long as they aren't in surgery) while you are there...If they say your husband is the patient, have him authorize that be done. Doctors also work for you. They aren't God. They are human just like the rest of us....Remind them of that every once in awhile. I do...

Congratulations on learning about cellulitis! It also seems that you, unfortunately, learned a valuable lesson about apathy. Remember, if you want something done right, do it yourself. And try never to become one of those nurses that feel like "it isn't my problem". From what I hear it is easy to do...some call it "burnout".

Thanks for the replies. My hubby comes home in the morning, but I just felt the need to vent. I know I`m not a nurse yet, but I thought that if it were brought to my attention that the patient needed meds they were not recieving I felt that I would check into it...speak to the DR....try to find out why....

As I have written several times:

1) stay out of hospitals if at all possible, and

2) never go into a hospital without an active personal advocate.

we leave a note for the dr on the chart if the med isn't needed at that time for the dr to order, or just call him at home.

I have always made it a point to inform the doctor about a missed patient home med. Depending on med and time of day either via telephone call, or a post it note on their progress notes where I know they won't miss it. Some docs never look at the front of the charts, but they have to write in the progress notes. Hope he gets to feeling better.

I was once in a somewhat sticky situation. I worked in LTC as a CNA. A family member of a newly admitted resident ask me if her husband was going to continue receiving a particular med that he had been taking while he was at home. I politely told the reisdent's wife that while I would ask the nurse to come and speak with her, I was a CNA and not able to answer that for her.

I relayed the message to that residents nurse and went about the rest of my shift. A few days later when I returned for work, the same resident's wife approached me and ask why I had not given her message to the nurse as I told her I would. I ask her if the nurse had ever come back to speak with her and she said no. I apologized and told her that I would again give the nurse the message. The resident's wife ask me for the nurses name. I told her his nurse's name for that evening but cautioned her that it was not the same nurse that was on the night of her first request.

To make a long story come to an end, I went back to the origninal nurse the next time we worked together and explained that the resident's wife was very upset that his nurse did not speak with her. She flew off the handle and began telling me how it was not in my place to tell the nurses how to do their job, and on and on.

After about 1/2 hour I was finally able to make her (the nurse) realize that my only concern was for the resident and his wife and that I was just trying to follow up as I had promised the resident's wife I would. When I thought every thing was clear and the air settled I went back to my responsibilities. Later that evening I overheard that nurse telling another nurse, "who does she think she is" she is not one of the nurses. Besides, it's not MY JOB to make sure day shift finishes things when they leave!"

Lesson I learned, it is EVERYONES job to care for those who are old, ill, suffering or otherwise not in their best health.

I am so very sorry that some families experience this type of lack of concern. There are far more GREAT nurses out there than poor ones, we just need to recognize them for the wonderful jobs they do and hopefully more of their attitude will rub off than the sour grapes of a few.

C

The nurse was completely wrong, you either leave a note on the chart for the doctor asking if he/she wants to reorder the medication that the patient takes at home or call the dr. No big deal, just do it. Short staffing is no excuse for rudeness and it is nice that the patient is alert enough to know his/her med was not given but it is the nurses responsibility to follow up. I would definately notify the nurse manager and ask what he/she plans to do to correct the apathy that the staff has shown, also write a letter to the CEO, hospitals are recruiting patients and want a satisfied customer, let the CEO know you were not satisfied with the lack of care and concern shown for your husband. Remember the squeeky wheel gets the grease, you may help out another patient in the long run. Hope your hubby is better.