A vent thread for patients- what can we do better?

But this isn't allpatient's.com Surely there is such a website where this discussion would be better advised.

OK, I'll join you Canoe.

A hundred years ago before I became a nurse (or was even interested in the medical field), I had a dx lap. I wasn't prepared for the meat-locker temperature, the noise, laughter, joking around and banter amongst the OR staff. I truly felt like an afterthought to the staff in the room. I was terrified to begin with, and this feeling compounded my anxiety to the nth degree. I was induced to the jarring sound of metal hitting metal as the circulating nurse carelessly threw a container in the case cart. The Versed that I was given didn't seem to help my anxiety.

Upon emergence, I was greeted with MORE noise. The anesthesiologist was talking trash to the surgeon about the upcoming college basketball game. I don't mind that (and actually wanted to participate), but he wasn't paying attention to what he was doing, and the O2 mask was damned near poking me in the eye. Sounds, temperature, and pain all seemed very heightened during this time. I think the cold was the worst of it; the pain was secondary. It also unnerved me that I was naked and that my arms were still strapped down. I guess they kept me pretty light since I can remember all of this.

Now that I am an OR nurse, I am VERY vigilant regarding the noise level, the temperature, and the lighting in the room both during induction and upon emergence. It still shocks me to see the OR lights still shining on the pt upon emergence because the circulator is too busy to notice. I absolutely lose my temper when a pt emerges without SOMETHING covering their body.

So yes Canoe, being on the other side of the stretcher has no doubt made me a better nurse.

Thanks for starting this thread. I am interested to see further posts.

I'm currently a nursing student, but I was a patient last year when I had a baby. Here are some things the nurses did that bothered me....

in L&D, the nurse comes in first thing in the morning to tell me the doctor will be coming in soon and he'll probably want to break my water. So I wait for the doctor and he does it. Now I would like to get up and go pee and wash my face and stuff. The nurse says I'm not allowed to walk around anymore and I have to use a bedpan. A little heads up would have been nice! Like hey if there's anything you want to attend to, do it now because you're not getting up again until the baby is out.

Shift changes and I have a different L&D nurse. I really wanted to have a med-free birth experience and I had been informing my nurses of that. Unfortunately things weren't going my way - I had already had cytotec, cervadil, doc ruptured my membranes. I had been in the hospital only on clear liquids for 3 days already. Then came the pitocin. At first it wasn't so bad and the nurse reminded me of breathing techniques and visualization. I was trying my best. But they kept cranking up the pitocin and eventually I was shutting down and just crying with every contraction. The nurse came in and I told her I wanted an epi. She said, very sarcastically, "So much for a natural childbirth". Thanks for making me feel like a failure!

Here's a nice thing the nurses did - after my baby was born (via c-section) my husband went along with him while they did all the newborn screening stuff. So the nurses who were watching me in the recovery room let my mom in to stay with me, even though they technically weren't supposed to since I was only allowed 1 support person.

My nurse the morning after my delivery (it was Thanksgiving day) was SO NICE and SWEET. She spent a lot of time with me. She treated my baby as if he was her own family. She was gentle and very careful and respectful of my privacy when providing incision & peri care. She was awesome and I loved everything about her. Especially considering she was working on a holiday instead of being with her own family.

The next day, the night shift, I had a nurse I saw once at the start of her 12 hr shift when she came in to do a quick assessment. I never saw her again, despite paging her a couple of times asking for my PRN motrin. Never got my pain meds until the change of shift.

Another experience when my grandmother was in hospice... the nurse was very nice - she was always hugging us. But she had horrible body odor. If you're gonna be the touchy feely type and go around hugging people, make sure you're not stinky.

/vent. that felt pretty good :)

Whatever happened to knocking on a closed door? This happens often at the LTC. I'm assessing my pt w/ the curtain drawn and the door closed and 9 times out of 10 someone will just walk in and say, "oh. I didn't know you were in here. I was wondering why the door was shut" DUH!

Another bug is nurses who wear their name tag backwards. You can't see their name. "Hey you!"

Tell the pt what meds you are giving them. A couple of times when my DH was in the hospital, the nurse would bring him a cup of pills. When he asked what they were, they would say "your meds"

Im a pre-nursing student, but Ive had enough experiences being a patient to chime in :)

Ill put this in an edifying format, since Ive had more good experiences than bad (you can assume the opposite of these is bothersome). Thank you for:

1. allowing me to cry and share my fears when Im at the point of a breakdown from hormones or pain...or both. (L&D)

2. not being quiet and dry, but instead making meaningless chit chat in the exam room/OR, and helping me feel more comfortable.

3. not making rude or sarcastic comments about weight gain (OB) ex) 10 lbs gained in 1 month and you say "woah, that was a big jump!"...yeah, I know. Add salt to my wounds.

4. allowing me to share every detail of my childs symptoms or medical history, without cutting me off or rushing me (ER/Peds).

5. not treating your patients differently (better or worse) based on type of insurance they have.

I'm all for this thread IF we can confine the patient complaints to this thread instead of them pooping all over the other threads.

Looks like we're swimming against the tide again, linear.

That's what happens when you are smarter than everyone else. I am used to it.