Would you feel safe being a patient at your hospital or medical facility?

MaxNurse · Feb 17, 2000

I would feel safe with the staff at my facility. I work in a Max Securtiy prison, so I don't plan on ever being a patient there LOL. But I would feel very safe in the capable hands of my co-workers. We have experience and training in many fields... emergency, clinical, chronic and acute care, etc. We deal with all types of situations daily. The nurses that train and stay where I work have the ability and knowledge it takes to handle any situation, be it care of the inmates or the staff. If someone applies and orients, they soon find out if they are cut out for this type of work and the ones that aren't quit soon after they are hired. I trust my co-workers completey and give each and everyone a big pat on the back and a thumbs up!!!

Bob Taylor · Feb 18, 2000

I would only want to be a patient in ANY hospital today if I had someone at my bedside looking out for me. Two years ago I had total hip replacement and had my wife stay for the entire stay. Meds were given without checking my nameband and I wanted to be certain my blood transfusion post op was my blood! In this world of nursing shortages, no one is safe alone. We all need a patient advocate to act in our best interests. Too many patients never question tests or procedures when a health care provider enters their room.

Heather27 · Feb 18, 2000

Oh my gosh, you guys!! What kind of places do you HAVE down there!?!!

Here's my story: I got home last Wednesday after availing myself of the hospitality of the nearest orthopedic ward at the small community hospital near my home. (Alright, I slipped on ice, rammed my foot into the garage door, had a total dislocation, 3#s, and now sport enuf hardware in my ankle to set off metal detectors at fifty metres) The nurses were AWESOME, and NO, they didn't ALL know I was a fellow nurse! They were consistent in their care, always did their checks, were actually compassionate (lol), and when I and my doc had a "slight" disagreement over my tx options, were MODELS of patient advocacy!!

I would feel comfortable leaving/staying at MOST of our locals. I work in LTC, and would feel comfy leaving Grandma where I work. Of course, we have our fair share of "Stay-aways", but generally, the people here strive for what is best for the patients/residents!! KUDOS to the nurses at Grace General Hospital, Winnipeg!!!

Heather

capjerry · Feb 18, 2000

Originally posted by bshort:
Would you feel safe being a patient at your hospital or medical facility?

I have worked in health care since 1972. I have never seen the patient care environment as toxic both for patients OR workers as the decade of the 90's! I wouldn't dream of leaving a loved one in the hospital without being at their bedside night and day. Expensive PR doesn't prove you actually PRACTICE excellence.

Margy · Feb 19, 2000

Hi all.. yep..I agree with capjerry.. I'm currently working agency work in many different places and the standards out there are scary. I've worked with a lot of great nurses who are worked so hard they cut so many corners they dont even know they're doing it. Lets face it.. some corners can be cut but there is a limit when looking at safe practice.

Most places get by 'but for the grace of God'

and management are not interested in bettering the standards.

When my rellies are in hospital I'm right there too!!!!!

Margy

MollyJ · Feb 19, 2000

Safe vs. unsafe is a little black and white, but I have been saying for years that if your loved one is in the hospital you should be at their bedside. In general, I am not as worried about right med, right this and that with my local hospitals (because that is the level of care that hospitals strive to provide). I am more worried about will they get turned? Will they get checked on? Would someone have time to notice subtle changes in their condition? Will someone advocate for them? Now that I work in school settings, I have to say that PSYCH hospital discharges look more like Jonah being ejected from the whale (from a parental and school perspective) than than a planned discharge.

I used to work with peds case management and my mothers would CONSISTENTLY tell stories about one very respected tertiary hospital in our state that, on admission, would not walk the family to the unit ("just go up that elevator and get off on 4th floor.") and then it would take forever to have a nurse show up in your room to do the admit. The admission spiel made it clear that your child's stay in the hospital was a do-it-yourself project, as you were showed "where to get the lines you could make the bed with, and where to get the formula to feed your child". The tour didn't include the med room...back then.

I have huge sympathy for nurses who are working under these conditions. Make no mistake, bare-bones insurance reimbursement is central in the creation of these issues. Until AMerica deals with the idea of what it is they want in health care and we STOP trying to do it all, we will have more and more of this.

askater · Feb 19, 2000

I've worked at 2 local hospitals. Both are urban hospitals...but the second hospital...that I currently work at and enjoy more is in a large city.

Most DEFINITATELY without a doubt....I won't leave my families bedside at our local hospital. The staffing is slim there.

We often get patients from my old job..to where I currently work. Fellow nurses can't believe the reports we receive. But a few nurses use to work there...and we totally understand.

My current job...is not a utopia. In any way. The unit I work on is staffed 10x better than med/surgical units. The labor units staffed well. I had my baby there...excellent experience...with excellent staffing. My father was a patient there. He was disgusted with the care. You could tell the difference...on med. surg. units. My dad has always talks about his bad experience.

You'd think if hospitals are turning into businesses....they'd want the consumer happy.

MVHGrad · Feb 21, 2000

Originally posted by bshort:
Would you feel safe being a patient at your hospital or medical facility?

I voted "no" to the question. I did so because of the lack of RN's to cover pt.'s needs. Things just don't get done in a timely manner any more. Baths don't get done, pts don't get turned, lights aren't getting answered. Meal trays aren't set up so that those who need help can even get to their food. I work in OR. Time after time pts get to OR wearing their jewelry. Consents aren't signed correctly, i.e. wrong side, wrong procedure. H&P's missing, pre-op meds omitted, antibiotics not given. I really do think some of it is the fault of the nursing programs. I work on the CQI committee for OR. When we worked on the consent problem it was clear the nurses didn't even have a clue what sort of liability they were setting themselves up for with this kind of error. It's frightening. I would not think of leaving a family member alone to fend for himself within the physician office/hospital maze. Too much gets lost in the translation. Patients with no hospital savvy could really be in danger when it comes to telling the right person the right thing. I worry about who will care for me when I am an elderly person.
The lack of nurses is going to land us in deep trouble in the health field. The American people need to wake up and demand the quality care they used to get. The insurance companies need to be taken out of the drivers' seat when it comes to determining who gets what care and when and how much.
MVHGrad

BusinessNurseLinda · Feb 23, 2000

I was admitted to the hospital for GYN and bladder work, and was SUPPOSED to be confined three nights. After I caught (RIGHT before it happened) the SECOND ALMOST medication error (one was by a RN that said she didn't know the meds as she normally worked Peds!!), I went home 14 hours post op! Didn't have to worry about my hubby screwing up my meds at home! NO I DID *NOT* FEEL SAFE!!! If you have to be hospitalized, have someone stay with you!! It was my HUSBAND that had me TC & DB and do leg exercises while in bed, and HE checked me (as I had pre-instruced) for bleeding.... while not a single floor nurse did!!! If THIS is "nursing", I'm even MORE glad I'm out now!!!!

Linda/RN

[This message has been edited by bshort (edited February 27, 2000).]

NightOwl · Feb 24, 2000

It sad what is sais in the above posts, but it is true. I dont know how many times i have went in to look at a diabetics to be told i was the first one to look at them and check for pulses.

We have delegated to many activities to CNAs and then no t following up to make sure they know what to do. I got a pt the other day, I asked the aid the output on his T tube she said what t tube. He had been on the floor a week and she had that side most of that week.

So, would i leave my family member NOT A CHANCE.

abbie · Feb 24, 2000

Hi everyone,

Allow me to acknowledge that you have all made very clear the point that the shortage of nursing staff and the increased pressure on that staff, have made the in-patient status a high-risk postiton to be in.

I chose to become a nurse, after years of deliberation and alternate professional positions, after my mother mother was diagnosed with end-stage cancer. It was the office nurse that showed enough compassion to assist my mother in her debilitated state by seeking out the poor excuse of a physician and instructing him to admit my mother as an in-patient. Unfortunately, she was initially misdiagnosed with "kidney stones" and not cervical cancer. Needless to say, the floor nurses were too overwhelmed with their case loads to provide the acute evaluation my mother required. She went into acute CHF during a blood transfusion and it was my brother that found her in pulmonary edema. The outcome, my mother passed away and I went to nursing school, with the intent that a patient of mine would never suffer the effects of shot-staffing under my care. Well, guess what, I'm good, but not perfect. After several years of floor nursing, I realized I couldn't be everywhere at all times and patient care isn't what we would all wish it were. Needless to stay, I left the in-patient setting for home care. This I enjoy. It allows the personal time for the clients that they so need, especially today with the short hospital stays. Let us all continue to do the best we can, everyday, but not judge our collegues who are losing the struggle to be all things to all clients all the time.