[pagandeva2000]

Originally Posted by NursStudent1980

good point it was stupid and irresponsible in either case! I keep hoping it was a case of just not checking the pt due to laziness and not pure indifference that she was on the floor!

As sad as it sounds, I would also rather hear that it was due to the same. My hospital is affiliated with them, and we have been having town hall meetings discussing if this can also happen at our facility. Last week (I was not there), the nurses all screamed "YES it can happen here if you don't hear our plea!". I hope to have better results at the one we attend tomorrow. We can talk all we want about what happened, but I am more interested in "Where do we go from here?".

[NursStudent1980]

Originally Posted by pagandeva2000

As sad as it sounds, I would also rather hear that it was due to the same. My hospital is affiliated with them, and we have been having town hall meetings discussing if this can also happen at our facility. Last week (I was not there), the nurses all screamed "YES it can happen here if you don't hear our plea!". I hope to have better results at the one we attend tomorrow. We can talk all we want about what happened, but I am more interested in "Where do we go from here?".

Well if SOMETHING good can come out of this situation, maybe it would be better support and staffing for the employees at your facility. Sometimes it takes something horrible to bring about change. Best of luck!

[422jdb]

I would like to be surprised by what happened in that situation but as someone who is relatively new to the northeast, I am not. What I see up here is a general attitude of indifference towards other people. If you hold the door for someone up here, it is rare that they will say thank you. I could go on and on but I have experienced and witnessed the rudeness non-northeastern people talk about being prevalent here. That it could spill over into a health care setting is sad but again, not surprising. May she rest in peace and may the others' licenses be permanently revoked. Simple as that.

[NYnurseatheart]

As a nurse in NY (not the city, in the Southern Tier), I can agree with the above poster that mentions the general attitude of indifference. However, I can't imagine anyone (nurse, aide, tech, security guard) walking by a woman prone on the floor and not checking to see if she is breathing, and/or see if she needs some help. This video makes me sick to my stomach.

[herring_RN]

I think in a big city some people choose not to pay attention to so many people.
It is OK to be indifferent when you are not needed. it can save your sanity.

My sister and I made a bet regarding which of us could get a fellow subway passenger to make eye contact and either change facial expression or say something.

No one looked at either of us. We must have seemed like hicks, nuts, or crazy women trying to smile at strangers.

But I doubt NYC nurses would ignore someone dying on the floor in their hospital.

[blessedbsn]

I saw this. This is really sad, as nurses and hospital staff we are supposed to be there to care for others anf help those in need. This is really a disgrace. May she rest in peace.

[herring_RN]

Waiting Doom
How hospitals are killing E.R. patients.
Thursday, July 24, 2008

…what's largely missing from this story is the likely cause of Green's pulmonary embolism. The answer lies in a far more systematic and widespread danger in hospital care: E.R. waits. Why was Green sitting and waiting while blood pooled in her legs?...

…A major cause for E.R. crowding is the hospital practice of boarding inpatients in emergency departments. This happens when patients who come to the E.R. need to be admitted overnight. If there are no inpatient beds in the hospital (or no extra inpatient nurses on duty that day) then the patient stays in the E.R. long past the completion of the initial emergency work.
This is what happened to Green, and it has become widespread and common. The problem is that boarding shifts E.R. resources away from the new patients in the waiting room. While E.R. patients wait for inpatient beds, new patients wait longer to see a doctor.

As more new patients come, the waits grow. And an E.R. filled with boarding patients and a full waiting room is an unhappy E.R.: The atmosphere is at once static and chaotic.

If you or a loved one has waited for hours in an E.R., you know what we mean.
The environment can be unsafe and even deadly.
A recent study found that critically ill patients who board for more than six hours in the E.R. are 4 percent more likely to die….

http://www.slate.com/id/2195851/