Elderly patient left on bedpan for days

Depending on the pt's condition, sores can develop in hours. While I still find it unacceptable to allow the pt remain on a bedpan even a minute more than necessary, changing "hours" to "days" makes the story sound more dramatic.

I was once floated to a unit where an inexperienced CNA set up an elderly pt in a chair, putting only a flimsy bed sheet beneath. The lady ended up with a massive ulcer - after a little over 2 h of sitting in a chair! I know this directly from the pt, who was transfered shortly after that to our unit due to cardiac problems: she stated it was 2 h and - strangely - did not feel any pain while the sore was developing. The wound was taken care of properly, yet continued to get worse for some time, ending in a hole big enough to fit a childs fist. This pt was in a bad condition to begin with (from a not too good nursing home in our area), and this probably contributed to the whole situation - not that I'm excusing our hospital or the CNA alone.

I find it hard to believe the 5 day story. Even an insensitive idiot would have discovered something's wrong. Was the bedpan put in for catching poop or urine? If poop, the smell would have been unbearable, even if the pt was morbidly obese - or maybe the pt tried to poop but couldn't? If for pee.. well, it's hard to imagine that after 5 days pee didn't start overflowing the pan, not to mention it would reek to high heaven.

One more thing regarding the way media addresses situations: one of the articles mentions the pt was "large". Now mind you, I'm not a nurse and have only been a CNA for a little less than a year, but I've had my part in caring for obese and morbidly obese pts and not once have met one that was 80 y old or even close to the age. I'm not being a smartass, if I'm wrong please correct me, but it sounds a bit fishy to me.

Another thing from one of the articles:
The man has two long incisions, one on each buttock, and a big open sore near his sacrum, but he must sit or lie on the damaged areas because his pneumonia prevents him from lying on his stomach.

Am I the only one who heard about lying on the side, or is there something I don't know?

Sort of like the man with bilateral BKA with strong pedal pulses--for weeks. This bedpan story is a type of story that gets widespread attention and it is shocking. It's almost an urban legend. But, why is it that there is never a story like...."Hospital staffs Level 4 acuity patients at a 9:1 nurse/pt ratio!" . Or : "Facility refuses to buy enough fanny wipes!" Or : "Nurses not allowed to eat, pee, or sit down !" "Supplies hard to find at XYZ hospital!" "Nurse required to take care of 60 patients!" What I am getting at is that it is true that nurses blame their own and it's almost a hobby. But it is rare to see a story that is written so shockingly about other aspects of healthcare. Usually they politely refer to "accreditation". I am not trying to justify what happened to this poor man; I am just remarking on the perception of nursing that is presented and wondering why it's always the nursing/ nursing assistants that are written about!

Oh, and yes, do you see that all of us who posted were ready to string up the nurses? Isn't it a requirement that a physician must see a patient each day that he is hospitalized? Are we to believe that a physician did not see a change or problem with a patient? Post surgical? Healing incisions? See our knee-jerk reaction to any implication a nurse didn't do enough? I am trying to point out our tendency to put each other down. Why do we do this?

I find this extremely hard to believe. That would mean that every single nurse, doctor, aide, and all ancillary staff did not go into this man's room! Not even housekeeping or dietary. How could they place a tray of food in front of a person that would have to have such a strong terrible odor coming out without doing anything? This just sounds too bizarre to be real.

Sorry, elderly aren't the only ones that this can happen to. My brother was 12 years old and in a thomas splint traction (one for the youngins to look up) for a FX femur. He was placed on a bedpan and left for 4 hours. My mom was sick and was unable to stay with him. He called my mom and told her that they left him on the pan. She called the unit and they said "we will get it in a mnute." Mom called 3 times. A peds nursing instructor found him and promptly went to the nurses station and kicked some butt. He developed a decub on his butt that took a while to heal. Shame on EVERYONE that allows these things to go on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let this be a reminder that wee should always do whats right. Go the extra mile, defy the norm, go against the grain. Treat all patients as if they are a loved. We are their first line of defense. It's time we started acting like it!

God Bless!
VJS

OMG! I'm not going to lie... I've put patients on the bedpan... they fall asleep, I get busy and they are still on it 30 mins later. However, that being said, I also check on my patients often and turn them at least every 2 hrs! Why wasn't this man being turned and toileted... and sheets on the bed for 5 days? Disgusting!

Holy crap on a stick!! How the hell does somethign like this happen? Shouldn't they have been checking for pressure areas, rolling him, cleaning him, assessing for mobilisation et cetera?

This is completely shonky nursing care! SHAME!

I don't believe this whole story. 5 days?
But, I do have to say that the last 2 times I was in the hospital as a patient, the assessment consisted of looking at my arm (I was there for cellulitis). Not once did anyone look at anything other than my arm.